Sha’Lynn Ayler . Mrs. Cowan. Honor English 12 4Th Block.

Jim Harrison and Jack Underwood are two completely different authors who share one thing in common; their poems involve a connection with animals. Jack Underwood writes how he does not care too much about the animals which is the poem called “Totem Pole” as he hunts them and then mentions “to appraise my work only” (Underwood). Jim Harrison writes the poem called “Man Dog” in which the main character cares for his animal so much that he even pretends to act like his animal. In both poems we experience the authors writing in first person and expressing a somewhat somber mood. Jim Harrison and Jack Underwood are both able to connect through animals and through the use of emotions as well as a deeper connection we see how two different poems

Ted hughes uses literary techniques in the most vivid way, to illustrate what his idea of a water lily painting looked like. In all of his works, the goal is to describe a task or a thing, but make the reader understand it by using nature as the key. The task in this poem is presented by the title “How To Paint A Water Lily”. The reason he wrote this poem, was to describe nature by decorating the spirit of the environment around the lily. The two literary techniques that will be discussed in this paper are imagery and alliteration.

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes is said to be one of his earliest and most anthologized poems to be written (Taylor-Thompson). Throughout the poem, Hughes puts extra importance on the river’s role in African American society. Hughes uses repetition, simile, and metaphor to support the poems theme of memory and the past.

Kay Ryan wrote her poem, “Turtle”, in 1994 while Langston Hughes wrote his poem, “Harlem (Dream Deferred)”, 43 years earlier. These two poems have distinct difference including their subjects. Ryan’s poem is about a turtle on the other hand Hughes’ poem is named after a neighborhood in New York City. If a reader of these poems looks more in detail and at the theme of these poems they will find more similarities than differences. The poems “Turtle” and “Harlem (Dream Deferred)” although seem very different on the surface, have many similarities with their theme and message.

Poetry is like a museum. It encompasses a range of topics with innumerable specimens. However, it is constantly evolving like displays moving from city to city. The authors are the exhibits and their oeuvre may either stand the test of time or fade into oblivion. To stay relevant throughout the decades, a poet must possess some authoritative dominion over their genre, whatever it may be. Two of these lyricists whose work remains topical to this day are Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) told poignant tales which connected his personal experience to the overall state of African American livelihood in America. Conversely, Countee Cullen (1903-1946) spoke in the tradition of English Romantic poets, and was met with

Hughes realized that is was impossible to do what he wanted to do in one piece, so he composed a series of short poems that play effect off eachother. Western literacy thought values the long form, the novel in particular, as a statement of intellectual acheivement and implicity devalues short forms. For this reason a collection of short stories rarely recieves equal critical attention as does a novel by the same author. In order to make the long form stand out, the author is expected to demonstrate complexity of plot and character developement. But these and related concerns are simply a culturally biased valuation of a specific set of literacy devices, often at the expense of other devices (many of which center on the sounding of poetry on the page). In a very important sence, modern American poetry was moving toward painting, that is, a composition of words placed on a page, and away from music, that is, an articulation of words that have been both sense (meaning) and sound (emotion). Hughes clearly close to emphasize black music, which increasingly meant dealing with improvisation.

While many may focus on the emotions of the singer, the poem’s true goal is to represent the emotions of the whole African-American community during the Harlem Renaissance. This expression of soulful melancholy is evident through the setting and situation the speaker finds themself in, as well as the time period. Furthermore, when comparing the overall mood depicted to today, the reader can see shocking similarities. Hughes creates an enthralling

In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”,” I Too”, “Dream Boogie”, and “Harlem”, Hughes promotes a change in society, and shares his beliefs through his poems. The ideas of abolishing racism and treating minorities as equals are present throughout these poems. Hughes’ work ranges between the mid- twentieth century to the late twentieth century. Although slavery was abolished in 1865, it left behind a legacy of racism (America’s Historical Documents). African Americans were metaphorically chained by the daily racial discrimination and prejudice they faced.

This paper will be about Langston Hughes and will discuss the topics hughes felt were important and his poems will be broken down to show you there was and is a deeper meaning behind everything. and all of his poems can be interpreted in many ways and can even be analyzed and can be relatable to all races.

Throughout his works, especially his poetry, Hughes also draws inspiration from music. He describes the blues as ‘“sad funny songs – too sad to be funny and too funny to be sad”’ as the songs hold ‘“laughter and pain, hunger and heartache”’ (Poetry Criticism). This point of view is noticeably reflected onto his poems when some stanzas are in the “form of the typical blues song” (Poetry Criticism). In other words, the stanza had two nearly identical lines followed by a third that contrasts the first two and this is seen in Same in Blues where he uses the repetition of the word “baby” in the first two lines. In his poetry, Hughes captures the voices, experience, emotions and spirit of the African Americans during this time. His poems have also been influenced by the Afro-American life essays written by W.E.B. DuBois and the black vernacular (DiYanni p.700-705). This is shown in Fine Clothes to the Jew, as Hughes addresses the hardship and struggle of urban African Americans in Harlem who left the deep south in hopes of achieving their American Dream. However,

Jeremy Thomas Mrs. Rothstein English 9H: Period 3 21 May 2015 Research Paper on the poem “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes Langston Hughes published “The Weary Blues” in 1926 when he was twenty-four, and the poem depicts his life in his own unique perspective as a struggling black man. (“Langston Hughes” 2 of 3). In the poem Hughes creates a speaker who is spending a night out and listens to a black man singing the blues. In one stanza, he illustrates a scene in which the African American singer expresses pride in his heritage, strength, soul, and the depth to which his emotions and spirituality reach. The imagery in the poem paints a very gloomy and melancholy atmosphere.

Poetry, just like music, is a form of expressing the human language in a manner that manipulates the emotion and thought. With this definition in mind, poetry evolves as time and atmospheres change, and as they change, new challenges become present leading to different kinds of expressions and feelings about an environment. Thus, it is with these changing expressions and ideas that poetry itself evolves. However, poetry’s foundation does not rest solely on the fact that it is a medium through which feelings are expressed, but it is the medium through which many poets teach, and articulate revolutionary conceptions. This aspect can be applied to the famous poet Langston Hughes, whom by expressing his feelings of oppression in a racist

Miller, Baxter R. “The Art and Language Hughes.” On "The Weary Blues", The University Press of Kentucky, 1989, www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/weary.htm.

Ted Hughes uses literary techniques in the most vivid way, to illustrate what his idea of a water lily painting looked like. In all of his work, the goal is to describe a task or a thing, but make the reader understand it by using nature as the key. The task in this poem is presented by the title “How To Paint A Water Lily”. The reason he wrote this poem, was to describe nature by decorating the spirit of the environment around the lily. The two literary techniques that will be discussed in this paper are imagery and alliteration.

In “Hawk Roosting” by Ted Hughes, the speaker conveys a permanent nature of the world and expresses the need to preserve natures past. On the opposite spectrum of this idea, Mark Dory’s “Golden Retrievals” expresses the importance of the present. Both poems utilize diction and syntax to highlight their speakers’ differing personalities; however, while “Hawk Roosting” reveals a more arrogant, wise speaker, “Golden Retrievals” exhibits a youthful, friendly speaker.