Essay On Langston Hughes

Among all of Langston Hughes’ poems exist a few stylistic techniques that represent his writing style. Themes of struggle and issues of his time, repetition, and allegory, are frequently seen throughout his poems. These things allowed him to convey powerful messages about the African-American experience in a unique and memorable way. They also enhanced both the depth and meaning of his literary works and allowed him to connect to his audience. Trapped by Skyler Kuplerski is a poem that also utilizes these three techniques. This essay will discuss these three techniques in both Langston Hughes poems and Trapped.

An important technique used by Langston Hughes are themes. His poems usually touch on topics like racism, injustice, African-American

The effect that this technique has is that it appeals to a specific audience which allows Langston Hughes to connect and relate to his audience. This can be comforting to the audience or it can be informative. I could also deepen the reader's understanding about the emotions of African-Americans when being discriminated against. Another example is in Mulatto. This poem explores the theme of racial identity, father-son relationship issues, acceptance, and the complexity of being biracial in a segregated society. This poem portrays the poor relationship between a white father and a biracial son. The son argues “I am your son, white man” while the father responds “you are my son! Like hell!” Overall the poem conveys the struggle of trying to get his fathers acceptance while also struggling to accept himself. The effect that this device has is that it evokes a sense of empathy on

It is present in almost every poem that he has written. This device serves to add emphasis to a certain thing. For example in The Negro Speaks of Rivers the phrase “I’ve known rivers” is repeated multiple times. At the beginning of the poem, “I’ve known rivers ancient as the world older than the flow of human blood in human veins” is said to emphasize that he has known not just any river but ones that are older than humans. Ultimately emphasizing the fact that the narrator knows rivers better than anyone. This allows the readers to think more in depth about the poem and get a more in depth understanding. In the poem Trapped, the phrase “I was trapped” is repeated at the beginning of the poem, after some of the stanzas and at the end. The phrase at the beginning emphasizes how the child is trapped in a place in which they did not want to be in. Near the end of the poem, the phrase changes to “I wasn’t trapped” which signifies a revolutionary change in the cycle. At the end of the poem the phrase changes to “once again trapped” which has the effect of disappointment of being trapped in the cycle once again. The effect of this repetition is that it appeals to the reader’s emotions as the tone changes from despair to hopeful and back to despair again. This can deepen the understanding of the reader on the emotions kids go through when having to go back to school at the end of summer