In "Enlightenment," Trethewey uses historical facts about Thomas Jefferson to shed light on certain aspects of her own life. The contradictions inherent to Jefferson's story give her the opportunity to explore her relationship, as a Black woman, with her white father. In referring to the real-life details about a historical figure, Trethewey is able to weave her story into the larger tapestry of national history. Other poets achieve a similar effect in their work, using these larger narratives as a means of exploring specific themes.
In "Mayor Harold Washington," American poet Gwendolyn Brooks offers a celebratory recollection of Chicago's first Black mayor:
Mayor. Worldman. Historyman.
Beyond steps that occur and close,
your steps are echo-makers.
You can never be forgotten.
We begin our health.
We enter the Age of Alliance.
This is our senior adventure.
In honoring the memory of Washington, Brooks also shows that his time in office kicked off a period of hope. The poem shifts from being a description of his past and accomplishments in the first stanza to a description of a communal new beginning, divided by a single line saying he will not be forgotten. In this short text, Brooks draws attention to Washington's story as showing a way forward for her community, linking the past to the present.
Similarly, though in a darker mood, "Jonathan Edwards in Western Massachuetts" finds poet Robert Lowell reflecting on a harsh New England landscape:
Edwards' great millstone and rock
of hope has crumbled, but the square
white houses of his flock
stand in the open air,
out in the cold,
like sheep outside the fold.
Hope lives in doubt.
Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan preacher in the 18th century who was known for his fiery sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Lowell, who was also from Massachusetts, invokes Edwards as he describes the remnants of the landscape where he once resided. In depicting the scene as cold and lonely, Lowell imagines how Edwards could have thought its inhabitants were condemned to a terrible afterlife. Lowell colors his descriptions with the intensity and despair of Edwards' perspective.
Both poems demonstrate what can be done when a historical personage is brought into a more contemporary context. For Brooks, this addition takes on a more hopeful note, whereas for Lowell it is something more dour. Trethewey falls somewhere in between, as she is critical of Jefferson's past actions, but warmer in her present perception of her father.
