Bread

Bread

By Kamau Brathwaite

Slowly the white dream wrestle(s) to life
hands shaping the salt and the foreign cornfields
the cold flesh kneaded by fingers
is ready for the charcoal for the black wife

of heat the years of green sleeping in the volcano.
the dream becomes tougher. settling into its shape
like a bullfrog. suns rise and electrons
touch it. walls melt into brown. moving to crisp and crackle

breathing edge of the knife of the oven.
noise of the shop. noise of the farmer. market.
on this slab of lord. on this table w/ its oil-skin cloth
on this altar of the bone. this sacrifice

of isaac. warm dead. warm merchandise. more than worn merchandise
life
itself. the dream of the soil itself
flesh of the god you break. peace to your lips. strife

of the multitudes who howl all day for its saviour
who need its crumbs as fish. flickering through their green element
need a wide glassy wisdom
to keep their groans alive

and this loaf here. life
now halted. more and more water add-
itive. the dream less clear. the soil more distant
its prayer of table. bless of lips. more hard to reach w/ penn-
ies. the knife
that should have cut it. the hands that should have broken open its victory
of crusts at your throat. balaam watching w/ red leak
-ing eyes. the rats
finding only this young empty husk
sharp-
ening their ratchets. your wife
going out on the streets. searching searching

her feet tapping. the lights of the motor-
cars watching watching round-
ing the shape of her girdle. her back naked

rolled into night into night w/out morning
rolled into dead into dead w/out vision
rolled into life into life w/out dream

Summary of Bread

• Popularity of “Bread”: Bread was written by Kamau Brathwaite, a popular Caribbean poet, academic, and activist. It is a heart-touching poem about bread and poverty. It first appeared in his collection, Born to Show Horses, published in 2005. The book was printed by Wesleyan University Press. The poem revolves around the central theme of feeding the hungry. However, its uniqueness lies in using pidgin English with broken and modern images to highlight the situation of poverty and the Caribbean political landscape.
• “Bread” As a Representative of Poverty: Brathwaite opens this poem with an indented line about the “white dream”, personifying it as if it has a life of its own and moves to salt laborers and farming the imported corn. The poem details the working women and Caribbean ladies doing work in coal mines. Next, he states that dreams of getting out of poverty seem distant as the days move like electrons around their center, while the city comes to life with knife banging, shops opening, and farmers plowing their fields. Markets become full of people, with the god of consumerism ruling the streets. In the midst of this situation, Isaac’s sacrifice does nothing as this is a merchandising world where only dreams rule, and the “flesh of god” makes the world difficult for the multitudes roaming around. He goes on to note the flicking of the lights and groans of the people making efforts to earn a loaf of bread with animals taking their share. Everybody, including the old wives, is looking for jobs and money while vehicles are prowling the roads. In this throng of people, the nights are rolling into nights, and the dead are colliding with the dead while life is going on.
• Major Themes in “Bread”: Poverty, consumerism, and fast urban life are three major themes of the poem. The poet shows that the “white dream” is coming to life. That is the dream to earn bread. Life becomes difficult and full of hardships when everybody gets up and goes to work either in coal mines, salt factories or in the markets where merchandise is moving like human beings. This consumerism has taken hold of the public psyche that the old wives are looking for work or food disregarding their naked bodies. The vision of the urban people lies in earning money to buy food.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used In Bread

literary devices bring variety to simple poetic compositions. They make them beautiful and pregnant with meanings. Kamau Brathwaite has also used some literary devices in this poem, whose analysis is as follows.

1. Allusion: It is a device that refers to something, a person, or an idea of historical importance, as the poet has alluded to Isaac, the prophet and the son of Abraham.
2. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /a/ and /o/ in “hands shaping the salt and the foreign cornfield” and the sound of /o/ and /a/ in “noise of the shop, noise of the farmer, market” and the sound of /i/ in “on this table w/ its oil-skin cloth”.
3. Alliteration: The poem shows the use of alliteration in the shape of initial consonant sounds of the neighboring words, such as the sound of /s/ in “searching searching”, and the sound of /w/ in “watching watching”.
4. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /s/ and /n/ in “hands shaping the salt and the cornfield” and the sound of /l/ and /s/ in “like a bullfrog. sun rises and electrons.”
5. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

noise of the shop. noise of the farmer. market.
on this slab of lord. on this table w/ its oil-skin cloth
on this altar of the bone. this sacrifice.

6. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Kamau Brathwaite has used imagery in this poem such as “noise of the shop. noise of farmer. market”, “flesh of the god you break. peace to your lips. Strife”, and “of the multitudes who howl all day for its savior.”
7. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poet has used an extended metaphor of a white dream compared to a wrestler.
8. Personification: The poet has personified dreams, fingers, and heat as if they have life and emotions of their own.
9. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of symbols of knife, oven, shop, and farmer to point out poverty.
10. Simile: The poem shows the use of similes such as “settling into its shape / like a bullfrog” and

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Bread

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

1. Diction and Tone: The poem shows the use of pidgin English with small letters used in the initials of the sentences and periods at the end of words. The poem shows a dry tone with a pressurized voice.
2. Free Verse: The poem is a free verse poem as it does not follow any rhyming pattern.
3. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. The poem has ten stanzas with each having a different number of verses and a one-liner opener.
4. Repetition: The poem shows the use of repetition, a rhetorical device, stressing upon the thematic strand of poverty such as “noise of…”, “night”, “searching” and “life.”

Quotes to be Used

These lines from “Bread” are appropriate to use when quoting the mechanical routine of life.

rolled into night into night w/out morning
rolled into dead into dead w/out vision
rolled into life into life w/out dream.