summary of poetry the cold within 250 words
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Irish American poet, James Patrick Kinney uses his poetic parable, ‘The Cold Within’ to illustrate the folly of falling prey to discrimination that shortchanges our own humanity.
Written in the 1960s- during the African American Civil Rights movement (1954-1968) , Kinney was outraged by inhuman discriminatory attitudes at the time and wrote this poem to prompt some serious soul searching. How often are we wise enough to rise above our egos? How foolish are we when we give in to our prejudices? Its message is relevant even today, when we face divisive outlooks in the world that lead to hatred and violence. The poem is a reminder to overcome our personal demons and be open to the wisdom of an egalitarian view – an attitude where everyone is considered equal in worth.
Kinney’s narrative poem tells a story to protest against bigotry and racism. The piece comprises of 8 quatrains — 4 lines per stanza with an approximate abcb end rhyme scheme. ‘The Cold Within‘ uses simple language and structure to ensure the message is not diluted. Given the delicate subject matter, note Kinney’s skillful use of visual imagery to engage the reader through:
Environment: In dark and bitter cold (Line 2) ; the dying fire (Line 5)
Mannerisms: The first man held his back (Line 6); He gave his coat a hitch (Line 14)
Physical appearance: He noticed one was black (Line 8); The third one sat in tattered clothes (Line 13)
The delivery too is straightforward — no fancy words or meandering metaphors. We see allegories in the wood logs which can be seen to represent a person’s abilities and resources; while the fire itself symbolizes the common good. Another language device used by Kinney is Personification — where you give personal characteristics to something non-human. He does it with Death — by speaking of Death having cold hands.
Their sticks held tight in death’s stilled hands (Line 29)
Kinney does not preach; he wants the reader to draw inferences from the visual and symbolical cues that he gives each character to arrive at a conclusion — the futility of exclusion.
The original citation of the poem The Cold Within is unavailable, but a letter from Kinney’s widow to an advice column tracks the interesting story behind its distribution. It seems that Kinney submitted the poem to many publications but it was rejected as being “too controversial for the time”. Still the poem with its compelling message spread quietly — shared in gatherings, over the radio and other informal channels. Somewhere in this, the authorship of James Patrick Kinney was lost and for a few decades, the source was cited as ‘Anonymous’. Kinney’s wife and son however brought his contribution to light. In the early 2000s, the Liguorian (an American based Catholic magazine) became the first commercial publication to publish this poem while correctly accrediting the author.
Answer:
Summary of the poem " Cold Within "
There was a group of six people who met by chance and were trapped in a cold and bleak weather .
Each one had a piece of log of wood in their hand and they had a dying fire in front.
Anyone , if would have gave the log to the fire , then they would have saved the fire and could have survived the weather .
However their hearts were cold and they showed lack of human feeling to one another.
The first woman refused to give the log because she had racial bias and noticed a black face in the group.
The second man saw no one from his Church.
The third man was poor and he did not want to serve the rich.
The rich thought not to offer the log for the idle poor.
The fifth man was black and he wanted to take revenge on the white.
The sixth man did not give unless he has been given too .
These group completely were dominated by their prejudices and they had a cold heart.
It was this coldness that resulted in their death rather than the cold weather .
We should remember " Love thy neighbor as thyself ".
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