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Erica Bell Griffo 3A English 7 May 2003 “The Creation” “The Creation” is apart of a volume of poetry called God’s Trombones written by James Weldon Johnson in 1927(Napierkowski, ed. 17). In this volume, Johnson wished to create a monument or literary movement for the black race (“On The Creation…” 2). The poem “The Creation” retells the Biblical story of the Creation in the form of a Negro sermon. In the poem, Johnson follows the same order and techniques used in the Bible’s Book of Genesis (Napierkowski, ed. 17), but with changes and twist along the way. He uses this poem to imply that the black race is God’s chosen people. In “The Creation” James Weldon Johnson employs personification, repetition, and imagery to emphasize the theme concerning God’s omnipotence. The personification of God in the poem helps emphasize the theme concerning God’s omnipotence through God’s actions. God’s actions reveal his physical human characteristics. One example of God’s actions is in the beginning when, “God stepped out of space,” this focuses on the feet of God (Napierkowski, ed. 20). “As far as the eye of God could see,” is another example that draws attention to “eye of God” indicating that God has eyes and can see (Napierkowski, ed. 20). One other example draws attention to the arms and hands, “The God raised his arm and he waved his hand”. A last example is God making man, “Like a mammy bending over her baby, / Kneeling down in the dust/ Toiling over a lump of clay/ Till he shaped it in his own image.” This indicates several body parts such as hands and knees and it also portrays God as the tenderhearted mother of mankind (Koprince, 153).
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