19 pages • 38 minutes read
Danez SmithA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Smith uses several metaphors in the poem “it won’t be a bullet” to convey ideas about life and death. They include “a bullet / becoming a little moon” (Title and Line 1) and “until light outweighs us, & we become it” (Line 9).
These two metaphors suggest the cosmic binaries between light and dark. Since time immemorial the moon, sun, stars, and other bodies have been used in poetry to suggest a higher being that is eternal and all-seeing. Because these celestial bodies exist above the Earth, they have a vantage point that allows them supreme vision and the power to illuminate the darkness. The moon can further be a symbol of bringing knowledge in a time of ignorance because it reflects light in the night sky. Likewise, the term “light” can imply a multitude of positive cosmic interventions—God, the soul, benevolence, or the bestowing of “enlightenment.” Conversely, darkness can imply ignorance, evil, or deep aloneness.
The way Smith uses light in “it won’t be a bullet,” saying that they will “become” light (Line 9) as they grow “thinner & thinner & thinner” (Line 8), suggests that death and dying is a spiritual act. As the speaker of the poem gets closer to death, they also get closer to the cosmic and the all-knowing.
By Danez Smith
alternate names for black boys
alternate names for black boys
Danez Smith
dear white america
dear white america
Danez Smith
& even the black guy’s profile reads 'sorry, no black guys'
& even the black guy’s profile reads 'sorry, no black guys'
Danez Smith
juxtaposing the black boy & the bullet
juxtaposing the black boy & the bullet
Danez Smith
Not an Elegy for Mike Brown
Not an Elegy for Mike Brown
Danez Smith
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection