How Did Langston Hughes Write Theme For English B

“Theme for English B” is a poem by Langston Hughes that opens up to the idea of interdependence between all types of people as it subtly criticizes how people of different races believe that they each have dissonant thinking patterns. However, literary critics Chris Semansky and Jeannine Johnson offer two different interpretations of Hughes’s poem. In Semansky’s version of “Critical Essay on ‘Theme for English B,’” he describes the poem as the student eventually coming to question the validity of the assignment given to him by his white teacher. Hughes calls “into question the notion that one can reveal the truth simply by expressing oneself” (Semansky). Hughes recognizes that one identity affects the societal identity, which explains why

His meditation on the assignment has led him to conclude that he is not one thing or another, but rather one thing and another (Semansky). However, in Jeannine Johnson’s version of “Critical Essay on ‘Theme for English B,’” she connects “Theme for English B” to Hughes’s autobiography, I Wonder as I Wander, in the sense that they were retrospective accounts about his early days in writing (Johnson). What connected Hughes’s two works more had to do with their respective willingness to see the good left in the world and humanity, despite Hughes experiencing racial prejudice and injustice in his own life. She also mentions Hughes’s apparent affinity for American culture, despite racism, as she says, “Hughes, from the beginning of his career, consistently explored the idea of an American voice, and he repeatedly insisted that what we define as ‘American’ must include the experiences, language, and visions of both its black and white citizens” (Johnson). Hughes hints at this message within his first few lines, when he says, “I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem/I went to school

Empathy and compassion are big themes here, especially as Dunbar starts off the poem by saying, “I know what the caged bird feels, alas!/When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; /When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,/And the river flows like a stream of glass;/ When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,/ And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—” (lines 1-6). First off, there are many instances of figurative language by Dunbar, such as the “ use of end rhyme connects lines 1,3, and 4 as they help to reinforce a singing sound of the wind and river in the following line” (“Overview”) and “alliteration in lines 2, 3, 4, and 5, [which] reinforces the flowing sounds of wind and water” ("Overview"). However, these lines are important because Dunbar’s use of realistic natural imagery goes to show the natural expression of life that all creation should be free to do. Therefore, it isn’t right that our social order can’t allow some people to have the same opportunities as other people. Dunbar prolongs this feeling of frustration as he begins the second stanza, saying, “I know why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars” (lines 8-9). Continuing on with the figurative language and its context, Dunbar’s specific use of