Turning Darker Still: Poet & Context

An established British poet and educator of Guyanese descent, known for his exploration of themes concerning identity, culture and the transformative power of words.
Believes in the power and prowess of poetry as a socio-cultural tool, impacting the personal and societal realms.
Renowned for his work entitled “Breaking Silence: A Poetics of Collage,” which centrally influenced his poetic and artistic style.
His innovative and immersive approach to poetic forms, focuses on the use of a wide range of tactics including imagism, lyric, and narrative.

Themes include loss, identity, transformation and trauma when examined within the context of black masculinity and racial identity.
Explores personal identity and self-realisation through symbolic meaning, often drawing on the diversity of everyday life.
Avows the burden of racial persecution, while simultaneously presenting the resilience and persistent struggle for victory over adversity seen within black communities.
Encourages readers to challenge their understanding of social norms, overcoming prejudice to promote unity and acceptance.

Sam-La Rose skillfully manipulates language to construct vivid and emotive contexts, evoking great depth in his poetic expression.
The play with imagery and metaphor brings about a resonating effect, providing meaning beyond the explicit text.
Brilliant use of slant rhyme and visual poetry techniques, facilitates the exploration of complex emotions, whilst also capturing reader’s attention and interest.
The poet’s unique styling is often compared to the collage, where disparate visual elements are collaged together to create a coherent whole.

This work should be studied in connection with the themes of race, identity, and the English language, as it relates to the experiences of black men in Western society.
The language used is symbolic of the cultural experiences of black men, which is characterised by struggle, resilience, and transformation.
It explores the interplay of language and identity to reveal the deep-seated racist ideologies of Western society.
Sam-La Rose emphasises the importance of individual perception and the idea that meaning is not static but interpreted differently based on one’s personal experience.