A Study Guide for Marilyn Nelson's "A Wreath for Emmet Till"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Marilyn Nelson's "A Wreath for Emmet Till," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Literary Newsmakers for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Literary Newsmakers for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535817516

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information.

A Wreath for Emmett Till

Marilyn Nelson

2005

Introduction

Marilyn Nelson published A Wreath for Emmett Till in 2005, fifty years after fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and killed in Money, Mississippi, after allegedly whistling at a white woman. The poet was nine years old when Emmett Till was murdered, and his death affected her dramatically, as it did people throughout the nation.

Nelson had previously written another book of historical poems for young adults, Carver: A Life in Poems, which describes the life of scientist and educator George Washington Carver in free verse and formal poetry. However, with A Wreath for Emmett Till she chose a very difficult poetic form, a heroic crown of sonnets.

In the course of the poem, Nelson figuratively weaves a wreath of flowers to commemorate Emmett Till. Using the traditional language of flowers, Nelson communicates her poem's many themes, including justice, loss, and remembrance. She also switches perspectives several times. Through these strategies, Nelson memorializes Emmett Till, and she calls on her readers to bear witness when confronted with injustice. Only in this way, she says, can deaths like Emmett's be prevented from happening again.

Author Biography

Poet, educator, and critic Marilyn Nelson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 26, 1946, to Melvin M. Nelson, an Air Force officer and one of the last Tuskegee Airmen, and Johnnie Mitchell Nelson, a teacher. The family moved often for her father's career, leading Nelson to develop a lifelong interest in different cultures.

Nelson started writing poetry in elementary school and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California, Davis, in 1968 and a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. While earning her master's degree, Nelson met and married Erdmann F. Waniek. She continued her study of literature at the University of Minnesota, publishing her first collection of poetry, For the Body, in 1978, and earning a doctorate in 1979. In that year, she and Waniek divorced, though she would publish under her married name until 1995. She has two children, Jacob and Dora, from her second marriage to Roger R. Wilkenfeld, which ended in 1998.

Nelson has taught English in Oregon, Denmark, Minnesota, and Delaware and was a member of the faculty at the University of Connecticut at Storrs from 1978 to 2005. She has published six books of