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Comparing Poems 'Harlem And Turtle'

Decent Essays

Langston Hughes wrote the poem “Harlem” in 1951 and Kay Ryan wrote the poem “Turtle” in 1994. These two poems have many different similarities that be seen throughout them. Although they are 43 years apart they share similar overall meanings. Life is full of depression and there are many things weighing you down as life goes on. It is almost as if we are turtles. The shell of a turtle represents the shell we put around ourselves when we feel depressed. We try to hide our feelings as life is weighing us down and we are just dragging those burdens around, “Her track is graceless, like dragging a packing-case places” (5-6 Ryan). As we become depressed and are weighed down by the depression, it slowly ruins who we want to become. The dreams we

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