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Comparing My Arkansas And Langston Hughes

Decent Essays

The two poems I have chosen are “My Arkansas” by Maya Angelou and “Dream Variations” by Langston Hughes. These two poems share the same theme of the separation between the races. Both poems were written during a period of time where segregation was a great problem throughout the United States. Each poem opens your mind to the thought that discrimination is a greatly powerful subject. Each poem has it’s own approach to the cause, but still the same theme.
“My Arkansas” was written by poet Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis. Angelou later moved to Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou grew up in a segregated town during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Angelou experienced the racial discrimination that was the legally enforced way of life in the American South. Arkansas represented a …show more content…

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Hughes's work often spoke about the lives of ordinary black people. Hughes concern for justice drove him to write in a number of literary genres, including poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and essays. Hughes was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic movement of the 1920s and 1930s. Many believe that Hughes was one of greatest writers, novelists, poets, during the Harlem Renaissance. “Dream Variations” is his dream to live in a world where what a man is able to do is not determined by the color of his skin. In the first stanza the poem begins with the ideas of hope and freedom the author has. While reading I sensed the authors ease, peace, rest and a sense of hope for “some place in the sun” (924) In the second stanza the ideas and pace of the poem which had first showed are now less dream like. His second dream is after a long hard day at work. Now his dream takes a rest under a tree and remains unfulfilled. Langston Hughes is simply saying that his dream is to dance during the day, and to rest at

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