Lynch Song By Langston Hughes Poetic Devices

The two poems by Langston Hughes “Theme for English B” and “ I, Too” both identify racism that permeates all stations of life. In both texts, Hughes represents the two speakers as African Americans and identifies how one tries to elevate himself through education and the other individual remains trapped at a lower station. In the poem “Theme for English B” skin colour and all that it represents emerges when the speaker searches for his identity as well as what is the truth about his abilities. The speaker expresses his view in how he deals with his white counterparts (the instructor). “I, Too” centers on the idea of racial oppression, looking at how whites do not recognize blacks as equals and how this affects the individual. Yet the texts attempt to show the basic human similarities between African Americans and white people despite their perceived differences and societal segregation. The two speakers within the poems struggle with their own self-worth in relation to their colour. The similarity between the two speakers is that they approach their issues confident in their capabilities and futures. The two speakers differ in that they appear to have different stations in life; servitude versus achieving higher education, yet both struggle with self-worth.

This poem focuses on the lynching of a African American male. The speaker of the poem appears to console a woman who appears to be distressed due to the events taking place. In the first four lines of stanza 1, the speaker says:

Hughes did not make this poem very long and narrative, instead, he made it quick and to the point. On line three he says, "They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes." In saying those words, he is saying that the people are inferring that because he is of darker color he has been scolded and deprived of his freedom. The people have sent him to the kitchen to eat because they felt that he was not of high enough standards to eat in the kitchen when the company comes. Also, this may mean that the people are afraid of what the company might say when they see a black man in the house.

In the first couple of lines in Hughes’s poem he speaks upon past African American struggles and encourages them to move forward from them with the use of his refrain lines, ‘that day is past,’ and ‘bitter was the day.’ He makes various references “responding to the early days of depression, moreover…having a range of tone, language, and insight…” (Shulman 295), to speak upon slavery and inequality. For example, he awakens the memories of slaves being lynched, whipped, and

Langston Hughes once said, “Negroes - Sweet and docile, Meek, humble, and kind: Beware the day - They change their mind.” Poetry has had a profound impact on the society and culture of the American people, changing styles throughout the decades, but remaining steady in

The opening line, “If we must die—let it not be like hogs” (McKay 1), focuses on the contingency of black lives with the use of ‘if’. With McKay opening the poem with an existential question, one is left to wonder what kind of terrors awaited the black community. At this time race riots were a frequent occurrence, from Chicago to Charleston the lives of African-Americans were expendable. The idea that their lives were dispensable lends to McKay’s statement, “…let it not be like hogs/ Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot…”(2). Implying that their lives may be in the same realm of

Under the line, "I've been a victim" the speaker says, "The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo. / They lynch me still in Mississippi." These lines demonstrate that obviously the speaker is symbolic of the black race, and is not just one person. However, the author wrote them as if it were one person and that proves to be very effective, especially in this stanza. The use of the first person voice allows the author to illustrate suffering in a very personal way, while simultaneously making the statement that each person carries with them the suffering, if not the experience, of past generations.

The main subject of the poem is a piano player and singer, who is living his last night. The message is that society works people to their deaths, especially African American workers. There is a phrase in the poem that goes, “I got the Weary Blues, And I can’t be satisfied.”. This is a metaphor for how the people have been worked to death and how everybody continues to be worked until they give up and die. The poem describes that the singer who has the “Weary Blues” and this can be interpreted as a symbol for the entire populace at the time. Hughes uses the phrase of ebony hands on ivory keys, which can mean that black people work for the white people. The final lines read, “He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.”, and that can be interpreted that there’s no difference between the singer being dead, or worked to

Jason Miller, an author who wrote the book Langston Hughes and American Lynching Culture. In this book, he talks about how young boys were lynched and it had traumatized other people and how Hughes made it a political and public statement because of his political personality. It explains how white people lied to get black boys arrested and killed for no reason. Each of Hughes work explains a type of the way he reaches out to the audience for awareness. He does not metaphorically say that boys were killed, he illustrates a lynched image for people.

Through the sarcastic excuses that Brown makes for the cop, he shows to the reader the truly inexcusable action that the cop had done. For example, towards the end of the poem’s final stanza, Brown writes “He has been through enough,/Standing There, his big gun smoking,/Rabbit-scared, alone,/Having to hear the wenches wail/And the dying Negro Moan.” This clearly demonstrates both the outrageous excuses that southern society makes for the cop, and how he was in a position of much more power than the black man. Through this writing, Brown is showing how truly horrible this action was.

Langston Hughes’s poem I, Too published in 1926 speaks at great length about the American identity: to be an American is an issue that transcends race, and all Americans should be treated equally. Writing from the perspective of an initially subservient African American, Hughes presents a story that begins in oppression and ends in triumph. A throwback to the prior institution of slavery, the setting of I, Too is confined to a single slave owner 's house; yet, it paints an image of struggle, growth and unity like none other of its time.

Lines within the poem vary in length. Enjambment is heavy in this poem, with words continuing constantly among lines in each stanza rather than stopping for breaks. The poet does not use any end punctuation; he uses minimal commas and dashes. Hughes uses unconventional capitalization in the stanzas, with the first stanza capitalization being especially prevalent. He chooses to capitalize “Negro” at some points, but at other points simply writes “negro.”

In exploring the problem of identity in Black literature we find no simple or definite explanation. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that it is rooted in the reality of the discriminatory social system in America with its historic origins in the institution of slavery. One can discern that this slavery system imposes a double burden on the Negro through severe social and economic inequalities and through the heavy psychological consequences suffered by the Negro who is forced to play an inferior role, 1 the latter relates to the low self-estimate, feeling of helplessness and basic identity conflict. Thus, in some form or the other, every Negro American is confronted with the

“Life is fine, fine as wine” to me this is the most memorial part of the poem life is fine by langston hughes. To me this poem is about staying strong during rough patches in life. Even though this poem was written a few years after the great depression and harlem renaissance I still feel like it’s connected together.In this essay I will discuss the poetic devices used,the theme and purpose, and my thoughts about this poem. We are going to start with the poetic devices used in life is fine.

This poem is entitled “The Weary Blues” and is written by Langston Hughes. It was originally published in 1926 in the Urban League Magazine. The time period in which this poem was written consisted of a lot of slavery of dark-skinned people. Moreover, the collection that this poem is extracted from, also entitled “The Weary Blues”, focuses on the struggles and experiences of African Americans at that time. It was during the time period of these struggles when the Africans brought the blues, originally originated from the Africans, to America. The arrival of this genre of music into America explains the situation that is dealt with in this poem, which is a Negro man singing and playing the blues to himself. Hughes’ use of poetic devices in this