Poetry The Rose That Grew From Concrete Poem Summary & Themes by Tupac Shakur
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Introduction
The Rose That Grew From Concrete written by famous rapper and actor of America is a symbolic poem in which the poet describes the journey of Rose from the darkness in the concrete to fresh air and sunlight.
However, the poem also represents his own journey from a poor ghetto to a successful life. In the poem, the poet urges the readers and audience to rise above the ghettos which are like concrete i.e. hard enough to become a hindrance in the way to success.
The poem is quite short consisting of the single stanza that has eight lines. There is no specific rhyme scheme. The poet uses a number of literary devices in the poem.
Poem
Summary
Lines 1-2
In the first line, the poet raises a rhetorical question, “Did you hear about the rose” drawing the reader’s attention towards a rose plant that grew from a crack in the concrete. Concrete is used in buildings and is quite hard. It cannot be broken down easily and one can easily hurt himself if he tries to break it.
In the poem, concrete symbolizes “Ghetto” or probably the slum area which is occupied by the poor section of people. Crimes, scarcity, diseases, violence and other bad things are quite common in such an area.
The crack could be the opportunity that is available to all of the people but for some, it is easy to grasp while for others it is quite difficult.
Thus the growing up from the crack in the concrete was quite difficult for the rose and symbolically growing up from the ghettos was quite difficult for the poet and would be difficult for others as well.
Lines 3-4
The rose has proven nature’s law is wrong. Nature’s law here means the way rose should have existed i.e. it needs soil, air, sunlight, moisture, etc for existence. However, it has proven that law wrong because of its struggle.
Similarly, a person living in the ghetto or slum area cannot grow up because the community around does not allow him to do so. It is against the expectations of the ghetto to rise above poverty. Thus the poet’s success is against the common belief or their logical predictions.
The rose has learned to walk with out having feet i.e. it grew up with any help. Similarly, the poet would also have grown up without any help from his community which was rather acting as stone in his way.
Lines 5-6
The poet says that success of the rose or symbolically his own success in coming out of ghetto would seem to be funny but because its (rose’s as well as poet’s) dreams were high and its determination was firm and strong, it learned to breathe fresh air.
The line means that big dreams always seem funny. The poet would have big dreams in his childhood and others might have been laughing at him as any ghetto would do. However, he had a strong belief in himself and finally learned to be successful.
Lines 7-8
In the final lines, the poet prays for the rose to live long as it struggled when no one ever cared for it. In the deeper sense, the poet applauds himself and wishes himself to live longer as he struggles when everybody laughed at him but never cared for him.
Themes
The main themes of the poem The Rose That Grew From Concrete are
Nothing is impossible
The coming out of a rose plant from a crack in the concrete is not possible according to the law of nature as a plant needs air, soil and soft land to come out. The concrete floor or wall does not allow any vegetation possible. However, the rose plant had dreamed of getting fresh air and living a life. It struggled a lot and ultimately succeeded in achieving its dream.
Similarly, achieving one’s dream is considered very difficult as per the popular belief. When one tries to come out of his/her comfort zone, a number of people and other things come in his way which is like the concrete wall. They try making it impossible for one to achieve.
However, those who remain consistent and keep struggling, ultimately succeed like the rose plant.
Consistency
Consistency and focus are the key elements for one to achieve one’s dream and succeed in life. The problems, which the poet calls concrete in the poem, always remain in the way of success and hinder one from achieving them. Those who lose hope, focus and consistency ultimately fail.
However, those who remain focused and bravely face all the problems, criticisms and other negative things achieve their goals.
