In Memory of Radio | Themes

In Memory of Radio Themes

Appearances and Reality

"In Memory of Radio" examines the idea of appearance and reality, suggesting that the world of phenomena or appearances is not to be trusted. In the Western world, Plato was one of the first to popularize this idea in his "Allegory of the Cave," claiming that human beings mistakenly believe that the world as we see or experience it is the real world. Plato believed that the things or objects of the given world were merely imperfect copies of the real, which existed in the realm of ideas. Baraka also calls into question the reliability of what we see, or in this case hear and read. He questions his own authority as poet in the third stanza when he asks, "What am I a sage or something?"—implying that readers would do well not to necessarily trust the page. He then likens his own poetic authority to that of Mandrake, a...
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