The poem “I will Fight you for the Library” by Taylor Mali is a series of four letters one of his former teachers sent when his library time was taken by the dean of instruction, Professor Blackstone, for a meeting on appropriate use of school facilities. The four letters Mali read as part of this slam poem were the responses to letters sent by the administration in answer to the first message. Mali is known for his style and flair in slam poetry, a text most often used in competition known as poetry slams. It expresses a person’s story and/or struggles, usually in an intensely emotional style. The poem was written for (and technically by) his fifth and sixth grade English teacher, Dr. Joseph D’Angelo. The purpose of Mali’s poem was to stress that nothing and no one comes before the student, even the teachers and especially the administration. Mali often varied his tone by raising his volume on phrases like “That Dr. Blackstone, the dean of instruction, would even consider cancelling one class’s library period in order to hold a meeting called facilities utilization IS SO OBTUSE I AM INCAPABLE OF APPRECIATING THE IRONY IN IT.” It is in this example and others like it that Mali takes full advantage of reading this poem aloud. While writing to an authority figure a person does not typically use capslock or make any alterations to the text that would imply disrespect. However, out loud, he could and did show all the emotions felt by the teacher in the poem. Another rhetorical device Mali utilized was slang. In his second letter he addressed it “Dear Dick.” The excuse of course would be that Dick is a nickname for Richard. However, in reality Mali was using a slang word for jerk which is dick. This was effective because it showed that Mali was willing to put his job on the line for his students because their education was more important than his job. This was shown again through the use of the words “If any one of my classes are denied use of the library next week then please alert Dr. Joyce Santiago, the district superintendent, to be ready to accept my resignation.” In this letter the teacher used logos because he knew that something his superiors could understand--since the importance of research time was apparently beyond their comprehension--was the trouble of hiring a new teacher. He appealed to their logic and pathos (e.g fear) via an ultimatum to get what he wanted, which was library time when his students needed it.
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