“ Help me shatter this darkness ” is a quote from As I Grew Older, by langston Hughes. The poem explains how difficult it was for the author to reach his dream. His dream kept getting farther or there would be an obstacle standing between him and his dream. Langston Hughes used imagery, syntax to catch the attention of his readers and paint a picture of the poem. Imagery was added in very well into Langston Hughes’s poem As I Grew Older. In his poem, he painted pictures of what he went through. Langston Hughes explained very well how he was trying to get to his dream but had some obstacles to go through. Some of the obstacles he had to face was getting through the wall. Langston Hughes said that he was in the darkness and he needed to break a wall to get into the light, which was where his dream was. Langston Hughes painted a clear picture of his obstacles. Syntax is very important because it separates the sentences and stanzas. Some examples of syntax in the poem where the commas he …show more content…
In the beginning of the poem there are sad, depressing words like shadow, dark and forgotten. A few of the uplifting words toward the end. For example sun, bright, dream and light. The diction of the poem varies from positive to negative throughout the whole poem. Langston Hughes had a short range of word choice. Many words were repeated in the poem like shadow, walls, sun, rose, and dark. As I Grew Older, by Langston Hughes, is a great poem that can capture a reader’s attention with imagery, syntax, and diction that is used throughout the poem. Langston Hughes used Imagery, syntax and diction in his poem to explain the challenge of overcoming many obstacles in order to reach his dream. This poem, although it was sad and depressing, became very uplifting towards the end as he found a way to break through the darkness and reach his dream in the
The poem “Dream Variations” by Langston Hughes depicts a theme and dream of getting out of segregation and violence.
Furthermore the use of figurative language grabbed the reader's attention while demonstrating the importance of the power of words. The poem was short with three verses yet it was one of the impactful poems of the book. The words used were dark but significant which ended up making the readers relate back to their own life and makes them dive into similar feelings they have had. Power was shown through deep, sharp and cutting verses about loneliness. This specific theme was important to the book because without it people wouldn't be able to truly relate back to the
As you read these three poems you can sense a way that Hughes is trying to get the reader to understand the meaning behind these poems. First you read “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and see that he is talking from the perspective of an African American before they are a slave but
Langston Hughes uses images of oppression to reveal a deeper truth about the way minorities have been treated in America. He uses his poems to bring into question some of Walt Whitman’s poems that indirectly state that all things are great, that all persons are one people in America, which Hughes claims is false because of all the racist views and oppression that people face from the people America. This oppression is then used to keep the minorities from Walt Whitman in his poem, “Song of Myself”, talks about the connection between all people, how we are family and are brothers and sisters who all share common bonds. He says, “ And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,/ And that all the men ever born are also my brothers,
For the word "Death" also known as in negative term means losses that no one wants to meet with him. He also uses ironic diction. There are three stanzas; six, eight, and ten lines. Including to rhyme scheme throughout each stanza.
This assonance begins the poem by setting the scene. We are able to interpret that the unnamed narrator is in a terrible mood, is fearful, and his anxiety is skyrocketing. This is set at midnight, which gives a feeling of uneasiness. These dark terms are emphasized by the assonance to give the
The culture of most blacks was unwanted during this time. For this reason Hughes desired to make a change and illustrate such cultural identities in his poems. In doing this he caused a shift in ideas among all people. Although the change didn’t happen immediately it did eventually occur. With that said the African American people were given less of an opportunity at jobs, schooling, and most importantly culture.
Langston Hughes poems “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are two poems that have a deeper meaning than a reader may notice. Hughes 's poem “Harlem” incorporates the use of similes to make a reader focus on the point Hughes is trying to make. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes shows how close he was to the rivers on a personal level. With those two main focuses highlighted throughout each poem, it creates an intriguing idea for a reader to comprehend. In these particular poems, Hughes’s use of an allusion, imagery, and symbolism in each poem paints a clear picture of what Hughes wants a reader to realize.
Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.
“Her hardest hue to hold” and “So dawn goes down to day” are examples of alliteration in the poem. I believe that “Her hardest hue to hold”, means that it’s hard to keep nature green. It uses the letter “h” a lot to make this line stand out. Same thing for”,So dawn goes down to day,” which I believe means that a new day has begun. Alliteration is used to show the theme by saying that you can’t hold on to something forever.
Then when the author changes the tone at the end of the poem in the last stanza to hopeful tone the reader can feel the hope and happiness that a person feels when they are down and they are given kindness.
Poems can be analyzed in various ways ranging from their complexity to the emotions they convey to readers. The poems, “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes and “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay will be analyzed based on their similarities and differences to name a few. The poems may describe different events; however the overall connection between the two can be identified by readers with deeper reading. Comparisons between the poems may easier to analyze and identify compared to the contrasts based on the reader’s perception. Overall, the concept and much more will reveal how the poems are connected and special in their own way.
Throughout much of his poetry, Langston Hughes wrestles with complex notations of African American dreams, racism, and discrimination during the Harlem Renaissance. Through various poems, Hughes uses rhetorical devices to state his point of view. He tends to use metaphors, similes, imagery, and connotation abundantly to illustrate in what he strongly believes. Discrimination and racism were very popular during the time when Langston Hughes began to develop and publish his poems, so therefore his poems are mostly based on racism and discrimination, and the desire of an African American to live the American dream. Langston Hughes poems served as a voice for all African Americans greatly throughout his living life, and even after his death.
Langston Hughes is an African American Poet who is very closely connected to his culture and expresses his feelings very thoroughly through his poetry in a jazz style. Langston Hughes is a modern poet who ignore the classical style of writing poetry and instead, in favor of oral and improve traditions of the Black culture. In majority of Langston’s poetry, many of his audience seems to take away a very strong message that many can apply to themselves or to others or his poems gives you an educational background of what’s going on in the African American community right now. For example, Langston Hughes writes a poetry piece called Afro American Fragment, which gives you a great breakdown of what an everyday African American person goes through considering that their whole history is basically taken away from them. Langston seems to show his audience that in books we never hear much about what contributions a African American person has done except for being brought to America and being a slave.
Biography/Context: Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is widely considered as one of the most successful African-American poets of all time. He was also a columnist, playwright, novelist, and social activist for African-American rights. Consequently, Hughes wrote all sorts of literature about 20th century African-Americans living in Harlem--a major black residential within the Manhattan borough of New York City--and soon became an extremely influential figure in the Harlem Renaissance, which was the rebirth movement of African-American culture in the arts during the 1920s. Hughes also had great admiration for music, and was inspired by a variety of genres/musicians such as boogie, Bach, jazz, and blues. His special love for blues music caused