Blog Post #8

Benighted – intellectually or morally ignorant, unenlightened

Redemption – an act of redeeming, or the state of being redeemed

Scornful – derisive, contemptuous

Diabolic – having the qualities of a devil; devilish; fiendish; outrageously wicked

Zephyr – a gentle, mild breeze

Verdant – green with vegetation, covered with growing plants or grass

Variegated – varied in appearance of color; marked with patches or spots of different colors

Knowing what these words mean helps me understand the poems better because it helps me better understand what the author of the poem is trying to get across. For instance, “taught my benighted soul to understand.” She taught herself that there was a God and a savior, and that he does exist. “ Or when she says “their color is a diabolic die.” I think that she meant that they look down upon her race and thinks that they are a sign of the devil. In “An Hymn to the Morning” she says “on every leaf the gently zephyr plays” she means that the leaves are rustling in the gentle wind.