The Rose That Grew from Concrete
By Tupac Shakur
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
Summary of The Rose That Grew from Concrete
- Popularity of “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”: “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” by Tupac Shakur, an African American lyricist, actor, rapper, and songwriter, is an interesting piece. It first appeared in 1999 in the book having the same title. The poem presents an unnatural phenomenon of a rose plant growing out of a concrete wall. The beauty of the poem, however, lies in the fact that it presents the defiant growth of nature out of human structures.
- “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” As a Representative of Defiant Nature: The poet presents a scene where a concrete wall shows a rose plant growing out of it. The poet, however, asks a rhetorical question, inquiring the readers whether they have seen such a thing. In a similar vein, he continues arguing that this is against the law of nature that a plant should sprout from a concrete building or wall. It seems funny to the poet after which he surmises that the rose has kept his dream of having a buffet of fresh air, the reason that he learns a lesson from it. Then he raises a slogan in the honor of the rose that it should live long that it has not cared anything else and has risen out of concrete to realize its dream.
- Major Themes in “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”: Realization of dreams, hard work, and persistence are three major themes of the poem. The poet has presented a beautiful example of a rose sprouting from a concrete wall to show that persistence in a person makes him a hero. The reason is that he continuously works hard to reach his destination and he does after a long struggle. That is why such a rose looks beautiful. The poet has conveyed the same message that a person having persistence and will to work hard to have a touch of fresh air can get it, though, after a long struggle.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used In “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”
literary devices make poems impressive. Tupac Shakur has also used some literary devices in this poem whose analysis is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ in “Proving nature’s law is wrong it” the sound of /e/ in “it learned to breathe fresh air” and again the sound of /a/ in “learned to walk with out having feet.”
- Alliteration: The poem shows the use of alliteration in the shape of initial consonant sounds of the neighboring words such as the sound of /w/ in “walk with out” and /l/ in “Long live.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /s/ and /m/ in “Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams” and the sound of /r/ and /l/ in “Long live the rose that grew from concrete.”
- 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;
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Tupac Shakur has used imagery in this poem such as “from a crack in the concrete”, “learned to walk with out having feet” and “Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poet has used the extended metaphor of the germination of a rose in the concrete to show human evolution.
- Rhetorical Question: The poem shows the use of rhetorical questions such as “Did you hear about the rose that grew / from a crack in the concrete?”
- 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 such as a rose, cracks, and concrete to show the process of birth.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”
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.
- Diction and Tone: The poem shows the use of descriptive diction with modern wording and a quizzical tone.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem shows the rhyme scheme of ABCBDEFE throughout the poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are no fixed stanzas in this poem, as it is a single stanza with eight verses.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” are appropriate to quote when talking about the impossible happenings or tasks.
The moon won’t use the door,
only the window.
