Poetry Project please help

[Majasprat]

Hi I am new to the site so I hope this is in the correct place. I have a poetry assignment due tomorrow and I must make a poem about a book I read (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson). The poem has to deal with an event, character or theme in the book. In the case of this book I am choosing slavery. The main character (Octavian) is a slave and the son of a African princess so I thought it was a suiting topic. *SPOILERS* (it deals with his life unfolding and he begins to realize he is a slave and eventually escapes) *SPOILERS DONE* I am going to begin making a draft of my poem soon and was hoping the friendly users on this site with knowledge of writing poetry could help me edit it. Also if their is any grammar, punctuation or spelling errors in my posts could you point them out to me. I am planning on becoming a historian and need to have literature skills.

Poem on the post directly below this one

[Majasprat]

I made a poem for a project and would really appreciate some editing.

SLAVERY

Black or White it doesn’t matter.
We are all created by the same master.
But men of colour are deemed lesser.
And destined to kneel before another master.

From day to day horror unfolds
Stories of lashings whilst tied to a pole
Attacks on pride
For spilling some wine

They say they are dumber
Incapable of learning
They display it as a fact
But it is simply not that

SLAVES long for freedom
But are never granted it
They dream of a single sheet of paper
That would change their life forever.

The life of a slave
Is dull and boring
You labor over tasks
And never get rewarded

To those born into slavery
They do not know any better
They feel it is normal
To work for their betters

Slaves will never be married
They will never have place called home
They will never be cared for
And will never ever be granted what they wish for most



Any replies are appreciated

**EDIT**

I also had to make a reflection of why I chose this subject

Reflection *****THIS MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS*******


The subject of slavery that I chose for my poem is very suitable for the book I chose. This is because the book I chose revolves around slavery most of the events within the text occurred because of slavery. The main character in the book (Octavian) is a slave although he does not know this in the early stages of the book. Octavian is the son of an African Princess but she was forced to move to America. (as the revolution was occurring) From there she went into slavery and at the time she was pregnant and thus her child (Octavian) is a slave as well. The fact that Octavian is a slave slowly starts to unfold to himself and as he grows he begins to hate it. His treatment gets worse and worse over time as new people make the rules. Octavian grew up in a house of “A mysterious group of rational philosophers”. Octavian appears to be somewhat of a test subject as he is given a high education something uncommon for the slaves at this time and place. This story is set during the American Revolution a time where owning slaves was perfectly legal in America. Some Americans feared that their slaves were going to rise up against them because the English were trying to get the slaves to rebel against their masters. This fear plays a very large part in the plot of the story. While I did choose the topic of slavery for my poem because the entire book revolves around slavery there is another reason. My other reason for choosing slavery as a topic is because of the importance of such a subject. Obviously this must never occur again but through this book I saw what life was like for a slave in this time period. Furthermore, Octavian was a particularly well off slave for the majority of the book. Through this poem I was able to effectively describe a recurring theme throughout my independent reading book and express a horrible crime against humanity that has occurred time and time again. In conclusion, those are the reasons for choosing the subject of slavery for my poem.