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Natasha Trethewey's Monument: New and Selected Poems.

Natasha Trethewey, a biracial poet from the South, writes about the prejudice of both

cultures. She denies the subjectivity of traditional poems yet employs standard rhyme schemes

and patterns. Lorde captures sights and noises she has never heard. She does. Both ladies benefit

by addressing their readers by name. Trethewey and Lorde's language will become a verbal and

visual summoning. Trethewey's existence depends on her capacity to call and remember what

she sees. That is much of Trethewey's theory, writes book critic Sarah Kennedy. Trethewey's

work represents a different world. It's a new world as she keeps oppressors at bay. Trethewey

employs flash to reimagine reality in her pictures. In Ophelia by Bellocq, the story of a sure

family told. When I realized that women's memories had been lost or forgotten in the ancient

record, I intended to resurrect them. It's a 1912 Storyville portrait by E. J. Bellocq. Ophelia

describes Lula White's Mahogany Hall as one of the few "coloured" brothels; I don't know her.

Those photographs inspired me to speak for Storyville's anonymous women. My ninth-grade

"Hamlet" book has an illustration of Ophelia by John Edward Millais; I'll read her diary to

discover more about her Storyville persona. The reader includes when a poet performs well.

Readers travel with authors including Shakespeare, Frost, and Angelou. In 1912, Natalie

Trethewey, like Shakespeare, wrote poetry about New Orleans prostitutes. She makes them feel

valued. Instead of being lonely, these ladies have found love and family.
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In (Self) Portrait, Tretheway delves into the experience of a young lady on her trip away

from home. Additionally, the journey explores one's own personal growth and development.

While reading (Self) Portrait, keeping the poem's overall length in mind is essential. Even though

it's easy to ignore this detail, it tells us a great deal about the woman's character in the storey. In a

(Self) Portrait, there are just 14 lines. Even though this is a short poem, it has an impactful

message when viewed as a whole. Although one may anticipate a poem about oneself to be

extensive, this one is not. Ophelia seems to be uncertain of herself in this scenario. She can only

define herself in 14 words. Sonnets usually have 14 lines; therefore, this is unique. An unloving

verse, with no affection expressed. Tretheway used this poem to describe the country's

predicament in 1912. The landscapes she experiences are her road to a new self; Her present

work and mother are more significant than her locality. Like poetry, Ophelia is a work in

progress. Preface: Before moving on to the poetry's quote analysis, note the title's relation to the

poem. The title implies that this is a (self-)portrait. Tretheway's text includes "Self." Tretheway

seems to indicate "self" as a knowledge source.

On the other hand, this information does not require being made public. That has the

potential to bring back the oppressive part of Ophelia's demeanour that describe earlier. No

matter if it is a (Self) Portrait, she still has no control over the lighting in the photograph.

Ophelia's story represents the overshadowed by the intricacy of the vocabulary used in the novel,

which lessens the story's emotional impact. Although the main character writes a journal in the

section Storyville Diary, she retains the muted tone in her home letters to her family throughout

the novel. For the reader to experience her emotions, neither her highs nor lows have been sung

loudly enough or mumbled with sufficient intensity. The poems regarding Ophelia's relationship

with the camera and with Bellocq are the ones that stand out the most. In "Portrait #1", she tells
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us, "Here, I am to look casual, even" "Frowsy, though still queen of my boudoir". "A moment

caught as if by accident".

She's perfected the statuesque pose and acting. Women taught to become images or
artefacts by their housemistress. Ophelia understands that if the photos are published, they
become his. Ophelia's new digital SLR camera alters her worldview.

"I thrill to the magic of it…" "In the negative", "the whole world reverses, my black dress
turned" "White, my skin blackened to pitch. Inside out", "I said, thinking of what I'd tried to
hide".

"Ophelia explores what the camera can and cannot see".

"I've learned the camera well, the danger" "of it, the half-truths it can tell, but also"
"the way it fastens us to our pasts…"

"(Self) Portrait" begins with Ophelia taking a photograph of a street scene and ends with

her self-reflection on the subject matter. Ophelia concludes the piece with a street picture and a

reflection. She saw her motherboard the train while she waited on the platform. Distracted by a

recollection, she looks into the camera and catches her eye. In other poems, such as "Portrait #2,"

we see Ophelia in a vulnerable position due to being photographed, which is particularly

poignant.

"When I see this plate" "I try to recall what I was thinking—" "how not to be exposed, though

naked, how""To wear skin like a garment, seamless".

Unfortunately, despite Ophelia presenting many options, Bellocq's novel does not go into

depth into its subject. Consequently, the best criticism an author can get is writing more.

According to Natasha Trethewey's book Bellocq's Ophelia, African-Americans dominated the

early 1900s sex trade in New Orleans' Storyville, an authorized red-light district. The
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photographs of women most likely working at Willie Piazza's or Lulu White's brothels were used

to inspire a new collection of poetry by commercial photographer Ernest J. Bellocq. Trethewey

creates a composite figure, who serves as the book's main character, to envision the aspects of

her life that don't document in written history or photographs. This woman resembles Ophelia, a

woman dying of venereal illness, a slim woman who drinks rye, and a nude woman with an

unnaturally arched back. Trethewey joins the legacy of "revisionary mythmaking" by giving

Ophelia to mythical female figures who denied a voice. Trethewey's redemption model of

choice, like Gloria Naylor's Mama Day persona, is Shakespeare's Ophelia. Instead of sliding into

insanity and death, Trethewey's Ophelia reminds us of lost American history. Using Trethewey's

epigram as inspiration, the poets utilize the pictures to reflect on the lives of the people shown,

enabling the reader to "see the rest of their lives, all that's to come." Poems investigate early

twentieth-century African American women, working-class women's hardships, and perception.

Ophelia now signifies grief. It dates back to Shakespeare. National Book Award in 2001 for

Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey. Both sources influenced Trethewey's Ophelia; Millais

depicted Ophelia as a child. E.J Bellocq photographed her. A young prostitute's existence

influenced by Bellocq's early 1900s New Orleans photographs, which Trethewey employs well;

Edgard Varèse Millais' literary Ophelia inspires her fictional character's poetry. She captures her

surroundings and herself as she becomes more comfortable with the camera. Objectification,

racism, and gender politics are all addressed in the collection. Ophelia by Bellocq falls short on

many levels. The author might have given Ophelia, portrayed by Trethewey, more time. A

reader's attention is drawn away from the main character to the historical Ophelia by E.J. Sure,

knowledge expands. Her father and the photographer admire her rigidity. She goes to New

Orleans to pass as white. Not enough poetry to soften Trethewey's Ophelia.

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Works Cited

KELLY, HILLARY. Thirty-five years after her mother's murder, a poet of Black struggle writes a

monument. JULY 22, 2020. <https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-07-22/

natasha-trethewey-profile-memorial-drive>.

Rader, Dean. On Monument: New & Selected Poems by Natasha Trethewey. NOVEMBER 20,

2018. <https://www.ronslate.com/on-monument-new-selected-poems-by-natasha-trethewey/>.

Sebree, Chet'la. Natasha Trethewey: Finding Her Calling in a Wound That Never Heals. January

9, 2019. <https://www.guernicamag.com/natasha-trethewey-finding-her-calling-in-a-wound-that-never-

heals/>.

VANDERHOOF, ERIN. Former Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey on Why Poetry Unites Us.

NOVEMBER 8, 2018. <https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/11/natasha-trethewey-monument-

interview>.