Conversation Overheard (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Quincy Troupe
- First Published: 1975
- Type of Work: Satire
- Genres: Satire, Free verse, Poetry
- Subjects: Culture, 1960’s, 1970’s, United States or Americans, Politics, Racism, Race, Twentieth century, Politicians, Television or television broadcasting, Prisoners of war
The Poem
Quincy Troupe’s “Conversation Overheard” is an extended free-verse diatribe using indention rather than spacing to mark the breaks between sections of the single, continuous stanza. The speaker observes the repetition and stagnation of routinized American life, characterized as a “treadmill” that does not allow forward progress. Images from popular culture, especially television (“idiot tube”) images and advertisements, are used as symbols of meaningless, unprogressive experience. The speaker of the poem is asked by his “love” to consider the...
[The entire page is 1496 words long]
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