Long before the civil rights movement, African Americans had no rights as an American citizen. Even after desegregation, African Americans were not given the same respect and value as a white American. During the Harlem Renaissance, however, many African American writers and poets began to challenge these viewpoints in their writings. In particular, Langston Hughes used his short stories, plays and poetry to portray the experiences of black life in America. He was heavily influenced by Walt Whitman and the ideas of free verse and was able to represent the feelings of African Americans after the abolition of slavery. In two of his poems, Theme for English B and I Too, Langston Hughes was able to depict the idea that African Americans are no different, but are American just like anyone else. He wanted to show the importance of melding cultures …show more content…
The metaphor in line 3, “They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes,” expresses the oppression that African Americans still face (Hughes). However, as the poem progresses, a sense of hope appears. Found in line 15, “Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed---” the true value of African Americans will soon enough prevail (Hughes). In “I Too”, the narrator’s use of personal pronouns symbolizes the entirety of African Americans and how the oppression denotes isolation.
Although both poems use first person pronouns and symbolize the oppression of African Americans, they both do so in different ways. In Theme for English B, the story being told focuses on the fact that there is one American identity rather than simply white or black identities. Whereas, in I Too, the narrator chooses to focus on the hope that one day the value of African Americans will be recognized. The theme, form, tone, and language remains true for both poems because they are both written by the same author but in both instances, they can be interpreted into meaning two different
Hughes’s poem is more of an argument against that of the people (whites) back then who were prejudice against blacks. With the first couple of lines of “I, Too, Sing America”, the lines mean that even if he is sent to the “kitchen” when “company” comes, he’ll still laugh and eat well and grow stronger from the experience, not really seeing it as if it were bad but more of a motivation to stop it from happening again. When coming to the lines of “Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the Kitchen,” Then”, the lines that are given here are just saying that this time around he’ll be at the “table” when the “company” and no one
Diction plays a large role in in conveying deep meaning within the two poems. Both writers use figurative and emotional vocabulary throughout each line. In “I Too, Sing America”, Hughes begins the first line using a figurative metaphor, “I too am the darker brother / They send me to eat in the kitchen” (Hughes 1-2). When Hughes refers to the narrator as the darker brother, the metaphor is actually referring the the African American community, not just a singular person. The second metaphor in line 2 attributes to the social divide and mistreatment between whites and blacks. This method of writing is mirrored in McKay’s “America”, “Although she feeds me bread of bitterness / And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth” (McKay 1-2 ). The diction McKay chooses to use, urges readers to empathize a feeling of sorrow and animosity towards America. He does this by using words such “bitterness” and “sinks into my throat”.
In the poem I Too written in 1945 the overall theme focused by Langston was discrimination towards the African American people in the United States. We understand that the speaker in the poem is black from the first line where it states “I am the darker brother” providing an imagery for the readers. Then in the poem it says “They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes” setting the tone of the poem, meaning that the speaker is unimportant person or referring him to a slave. The reason so, is because back in the day’s slaves had to eat in the kitchen of white slave owners. The setting of the first stanza of I Too
Langston Hughes is famous for his many great poems and was a very talented man. He wrote a poem in college called “Theme for English B”. In Langston Hughes’s poem, he uses imagery of racial differences and a bold tone to undermine the teacher’s authority. He also to expresses the universal idea that intolerance often comes out of individual assumption. Langston’s confusion of the topic of the paper causes him to write the entire paper about the paper.
There are also many differences within the two poems, “ Theme for English B and Let America be America again.” The first poem explains the life of a twenty two year old person who is in school through the eyes of an outside narrator. The narrator describes that he has desires and needs just like anyone else, but that all depends on the color of your skin. It even gets to the point where it’s possible that his opinions that he states are “colored.” (So will my page be colored that I write? – theme for English B.). He later explains that no matter how separated things can be, there is always a connection between people from all walks of life. In the other poem, “ let America be America again” is about what the country stands for but with an ironic twist. Hughes supports this element with examples of metaphor and his monologues reinforce what he states in the poem. (There’s never been equality for me, or freedom in this “homeland of the free”.
Langston Hughes is a famous poet known mostly for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote many inspirational poems that are still read and used for educational purposes. Many of his poems were inspired by his life and his story. One of his many poems entitled “Theme for English B” talks about how his teacher instructed him to write a page about himself and it will be true. In a “Theme for English B”, Hughes uses tone, and characterization to display a relationship between race and writing.
One of the foremost poets of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes. Many of Hughes' poems are about the act of writing poetry, justifying African-American poets' right to speak and create verse, which was denied in previous eras. The act of literacy for African-Americans was depicted as a radical, self-conscious act in Hughes' output. This is explicitly seen in Hughes' poem "Theme for English B." The poem very literally portrays a young, African-American man (presumably Hughes himself) being given an assignment by a white teacher to write about himself. The poet is forced into a paradox he is in a white-run institution, using the language of whites, and yet he must speak about himself truthfully:
Through his poem “Theme for English B”, Langston Hughes expresses his will to exterminate discrimination by proving that despite different skin colors, Americans all share similarities and learn from each other. Langston wrote the poem in 1900, when black Americans were not considered Americans. He talks about a black student being assigned to write a paper about himself. The audience is thus the student’s professor – the representation of the white Americans. Since the professor said: “let that page come out of you---Then, it will be true.”, the student began wondering “if it’s that simple”. He then describes himself to explain why it isn’t simple: he is “twenty-two”, “the only colored in class”, and lives in the poor community Harlem.
Langston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (“Langston Hughes” 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (“Langston Hughes” 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with black oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’ heartfelt concern for his people’s struggle evokes the reader’s emotion. His appreciation for black music and culture is evident in his work as well. Langston Hughes is a complex poet whose profound works provide insight into all aspects of black
“Theme for English B,” a well-written poem by Langston HUghes, explains a student’s assignment and his thoughts on how he is treated in society. Langston Hughes wrote this poem in 1949. During this era, racial inequality was a significant and major problem that affected mostly colored people. The poem discuss about how a young, African-American adult must write a page that’s true for his assignment that night. He would explain the routes he took to get home and that would be where his page began. The speaker first explained the things he likes and enjoy that don’t make him any different from Caucasians. This then transitions to a deeper perspective of racial inequality where he compared himself to his white, free, and older instructor,
Langston Hughes clearly connects with a wide range of audiences through the simplicity that surrounds his poetry. The beauty of this manner in which he wrote his poetry, is that it grasp people by illustrating his narratives of the common lifestyles experienced by the current American generation. His art form expresses certain questionable ideologies of life and exposes to the audience what it takes to fully comprehend what being an American truly means. Each individual poem describes and illustrates the strength and hardships the African American community was experiencing. Through his literature art form of poetry, Hughes was able to convey the common assertions of
In 1902, a black man by the name of Langston Hughes was born in Missouri. Hughes moved and moved, even to Cuba and Mexico to escape the horrid racism in the United States. He grew up to be a renowned American poet, activist, and much more. He provided a rich reading experience about the lives of black Americans and inspired many with his out-of-the-box poetry. In 1951, “Theme for English B” was written.
My background as a tenacious student and a minority has allowed me to connect to the poem in ways that I could very much relate to. I have personally lived through the motions of life that he refers to in “Theme for English b”.Langston Hughes’s poem is more about the differences he knows other people see in him or rather on him, and what they are missing. By doing this, Hughes make it clear that the color of his skin plays a crucial role in the way that people think he is like. He finishes by boldly stating what he had been
Langston Hughes was the leading voice of African American people in his time, speaking through his poetry to represent blacks. His Influence through his poems are seen widely not just by blacks but by those who enjoy poetry in other races and social classes. Hughes poems, Harlem, The Negro speaks of rivers, Theme for English B, and Negro are great examples of his output for the racial inequality between the blacks and whites. The relationship between whites and blacks are rooted in America's history for the good and the bad. Hughes poems bring the history at large and present them in a proud manner. The injustice that blacks face because of their history of once being in bondage is something they are constantly reminded and ridiculed for but must overcome and bring to light that the thoughts of slavery and inequality will be a lesson and something to remember for a different future where that kind of prejudice is not found so widely.
The Harlem Renaissance, America during the 1920s, was still a time of great difficulty -- even though many people today depict the 20s as a grandiose fun time. There was racism, from whites to people of color. It usually wasn’t the other way around, as white people have had the upper hand for the majority of history in the last hundred years. Langston Hughes understands racism, and has most likely experienced it because it is people like him who are often discriminated against throughoutand have been very much in history. He writes the poem, “Theme for English B,” which does not focus on the acts of racism but instead how he feels. As Hughes writeswrote, we all are part of one another, it is the simple way of