Perpetual Threat

A Poem Some Will Have To Understand is a poem of change and progress. Leroi Jones incorporates tonal and literary structure in the poem, and couples it with strong visual imagery to portray the mutability and self-discovery the narrator undergoes through the progression of the plot throughout the poem. It is mainly focused on the process of the narrator and his extraordinary transformation from a mindless thug, to a flaming revolutionary through self-discovery and an emotional first person dialogue.
Even before the start of the poem, Jones’ manipulation and his extensive use of wordplay in the poem to come is foreshadowed with the duality of the words, “have to”(A) in the title. In one sense, Jones is speaking to fellow- Afro Americans in the sense that as a race, this poem would be understood universally by all African-Americans because it speaks to them in a personal way about their lives. But in a more hostile connotation, he applies these words in a forceful manner, indicat...