ipl-logo

Langston Hughes I Too Essay

717 Words3 Pages

How the Theme is Developed with Literary Techniques in “I, Too” Literary techniques highly affect the way a poem flows and the message it delivers. The use of a technique is to create a deeper meaning to something or to convey an important theme. The poem “I, Too” by Langston Hughes utilizes metaphors and symbolism to develop the idea that people are equal and deserve to be treated with justice and respect no matter what skin color they have. First and Foremost, Hughes uses metaphors such as the “kitchen” and “table” to develop the idea that people are segregated. The “kitchen” part of the metaphor builds on the idea that the speaker is being segregated and not taken into account because he is being “[sent] to eat in the kitchen” (3). The “kitchen” is often an informal place to eat, while the dining room, or “table” is a place where people gather to eat and make decisions. The fact that he is being “[sent] to eat in the kitchen” could symbolize how he is looked down upon and people already have a formed opinion of him. The “kitchen” could also be used as a symbolic way of representing status, meaning that a kitchen is a place of less value that people who are looked at …show more content…

With the use of the words “They’ll see how beautiful I am”(16), we can see what he was hinting at with the outcome of him being “at the table”(9). The words prove the idea that he knows that he deserves to be at the “table”. This line helps to build the theme because it emphasizes the idea that people are equal and deserve to be treated with justice and respect. These words help to prove that even though most people do not look at him as an equal, once they see who he truly is they will treat him differently. Although these words might not be seen as a literary technique, they are important to provide evidence for ideas in metaphors and noting specific points that develop the

Show More
Related
2050 Words | 9 Pages

Most often, professors find an interest in the daily life of a college student, especially freshmen starting a new experience all over again. What is it like for them in college, and how does it compare to the modern college experience for the freshmen of today? A discussion on the third chapter of Rebekah Nathan’s My Freshman Year, “Community and Diversity” and how those two entities, or lack thereof can affect a student’s enthusiasm towards learning, doing homework, and immersing themselves in their own college experience. In the book, Nathan, a college professor, immerses herself into college life and makes an attempt to relive her college experience in the current time to find answers on why her students are not as animated about learning

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

An Annotated Bibliography: Langstone Hughes Dawahare, Anthony. “Langston Hughes’s Radical Poetry and the "End of Race." ” Melus, vol. 23, no. 3, 1998, p. 21., doi:10.2307/467676.

Read More
1724 Words | 7 Pages

The development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City, as a black cultural time period in the early 20th century is also known as the Harlem Renaissance. This time period, 1910’s to the mid 1930’s, was very successful and considered the Golden Age in African American history, performing arts, music and literature. At one point, like many, a group of people who had no power nor place in society are now changing the world one step at a time. This time period changed America using Langston Hughes, the Great Migration and the “New Negro” organization organized by Marcus Garvey.

Read More
1027 Words | 5 Pages

Life is a short four lettered word which blows in the wind and silences everyone at once when it finally ends. What keeps you holding on is your faith; faith that things will get better and they do indeed. Your faith is what keep holding on which ties into your religion; moreover, the God(s) you believe in. Furthermore, everyone has pressured events in life which changes them for the best or worst; moreover, these events change our course of life and ] affect our future.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

And that “Nobody’ll dare say,” to “Eat in the kitchen,” Last, you’ll read “Refugee in America” and you see that Hughes is speaking in the form of a refugee that is escaping from oppression and is ready for change by coming to the US. They have the change of

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

In conclusion this is a poem with a singular purpose to demonstrate that white people and coloured people are virtually the same and that the main remaining differences are that of economic privilege that though he is as smart as his classmates a simple task such as going home is a long trek to different side of the city. To achieve this effect Hughes includes some subtle changes to the irregularity of the poem in both instances where his instructor is directly involved at the beginning and end of the poem respectively there is rhyme present “somewhat more free this is my page for english B”. This is what ordinary poetry features rhyme and structure, however by writing the bulk of his poem in free flowing verse Hughes manages to convey the message that a coloured man such as himself can make poetry but he does not have to play by the rules of a white man. Some may even go so far as to suggest that the free verse of the poem suggests the freedom of coloured people from slavery and to do as they wish. Such freedoms allowed the men and women such as Langston Hughes to live their lives as they saw fit and even to venture into areas which previously were so white dominated, this perhaps is the true meaning of the poem the simple struggle of a young coloured man to achieve what is now his right, the right to do whatever he

Read More
648 Words | 3 Pages

Poetry, perhaps more than other genre of writing, often sparks controversy and discussion. Authors Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes are two authors in American Literature whose poetry is both debated and praised by critics. "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman and "I, Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes have sparked many discussions on their controversial content. Walt Whitman was the first of the two authors to write, followed by Langston Hughes who was influenced by Whitman's work. While Whitman's poem, "I Hear America Singing" reflects the happiness of the American people, the poem written by Hughes takes a different approach.

Read More
1198 Words | 5 Pages

This essay will discuss the various cultural and Historical contexts that are represented in this poem. The contexts and examples will be drawn from the poem, while the analysis will be drawn from a secondary article/book on poetry. The poem reiterates the economic, educational and racial inferiority, in a cultural context, that existed between White and black people in the 1950’s. In the first stanza, the poem begins with a quote from the poet’s English teacher (Hughes 1-4): Go Home and write A page tonight And let that page come out of you-

Read More
1342 Words | 6 Pages

“Langston Hughes was esteemed as “Shakespeare of Harlem,” a sobriquet he borrowed for the title of a 1942 volume of poems” (Sundquist 55). He went to Mexico in an attempt to flourish his relationship with his father but it didn’t end up happening. Instead, the Mexican experience was influential, mostly because of the culture’s straightforward acceptance of his brown skin, and the fact that Hughes had links to the Hispanic literary world during his life. This sort of background confirmed that matters of the skin color and social class were built-in his consciousness based off what he was experiencing. The different attitudes toward race and class became obvious to him; therefore he recognized socialism and primitivism, popular in the 1920s and 1930s, where he viewed dark-skinned people more directly in touch

Read More
626 Words | 3 Pages

“Life ain't been no crystal stair”; the words of Langston Hughes reverberates through my head. Much like Hughes, I have found my freedom and expression through words. This freedom bestowed upon me has made me come to one conclusion: I want to teach English. From a young age, I have constantly been told school is not a place to learn, rather school is a place to learn how to think, and as a teacher, it is wholly imperative for me to incite the thinkers of tomorrow. I am a Washington Heights native, and the foundation of my education was laid in Harlem.

Read More
1102 Words | 5 Pages

Langston hughes was the first african American to achieve national prominence, and figure of such stature in the black community. His influence and ideas were inescapable, as he saw himself as a poet for an entire nation. Hughes role model Walt Whitman, helped to give him the ideas of the optimistic vision of America and how to achieve and accomplish some of the things he did in his life. Langston Hughes inspired many people and expressed the African American spirt and soul in his works. Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri.

Read More
659 Words | 3 Pages

The American dream is commonly known for being able to have wealth and prosperity and some people think it exists but how can people believe in something that’s not there? Ever since America was founded and there was slavery, it had not been real or achievable. Some people think the American dream is achievable but its really peoples hard work that gets them where they are in life. I think people have what they have because of their hard work and how determined they are to do things. Data even shows that people don't think the American is as easy or achievable at all.

Read More
1017 Words | 5 Pages

Langston Hughes was a Black poet who wrote poems during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. One of his poems, “Theme for English B”, was written to compare a young, black man to his older, white teacher and peers during the 1930s. In this poem, Hughes uses punctuation, words, and phrases to help the reader understand how the narrator struggled with his identity during segregation in America. In comparison, I wrote my poem, “Theme for English 102”, to analyze my identity in America today.

Read More
923 Words | 4 Pages

Langston Hughes Langston Hughes has written a multitude of poems such as “Dream Deferred” published in 1951 and “The Weary Blues” in 1925. His poem “Harlem,” has been said that it has a spotlight on the surroundings of people whose dreams have been unnoticed, postponed, or even forgotten in post-World War II Harlem. Hughes believed most of his work was “to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America.” (“Harlem”). As a result, Hughes earned the title of “the poet laureate of Harlem.”

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

The speaker laughs at the oppression, and do the opposite things that the white people expect him to do, which illustrates his inner growing strength and power despite the fact that he is constantly put down by other. Furthermore, the speaker’s tone becomes aggressive in the third stanza which serves as the caution to warn people that the black power is thriving by saying that “Nobody’ll dare Say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ then” at lines 11 to 14. The lines indeed are somewhat violent, but clearly deliver the intention of the speakers, and emphasizes the importance of the message. At the last two stanzas, the tone again becomes prideful.

Read More

More about Langston Hughes I Too Essay

Related Topics

Open Document