"Preface to Twenty Volume Suicide Note" - Amiri Baraka

Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way

The ground opens up and envelopes me

Each time I go out to walk the dog.

Or the broad edged silly music the wind

Makes when I run for a bus…

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.

And each night I get the same number.

And when they will not come to be counted,

I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up

To my daughter’s room and heard her

Talking to someone, and when I opened

The door, there was no one there…

Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

Explorations of the Text

1.      What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings?

The speaker has no any willingness to continue his life; it feels a kind of sentimental. “Lately, I've become accustomed to the way”, this suggest that the speaker feel boring and numb with his life, felt desperate.

2.      What is the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands"?

Her daughter was praying and talking to the God in order to convince her father towards the meaning of life, and not give up to live.

3.      What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?

A “preface” is always seen in front of any books, and the title “preface” mean that the speaker plan or write something to commit suicide. “Her own clasped hands.” explain that there is always a hope and don’t give up life easily.

4.      Why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?

The first line “things have come to that” and the second line “nobody sings anymore” mirror that the speaker had loss his hope towards life and to emphasize his unwillingness to continue his life. The third line “Her own clasped hands” suggest that his daughter still pray to the God and still have hope towards life.

5.      Why does Baraka begin stanzas with "Lately," "And now," and "And then"? What do these transition words accomplish?

These transitions were used to describe the speaker’s feeling and emotion towards life and to show he saw her daughter was praying to the God.

6.      How does the speaker feel about his daughter? What does she represent to him?

From the way he wrote, we can see that his daughter was a sign of hope and new life for him and this was why the speaker stop his poem until he saw his daughter prayed.