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Langston Hughes Landlord

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Analysis of a Poem: “Ballad of the Landlord” by Langston Hughes “Ballad of the Landlord,” by Langston Hughes is a poem about a negro man who will not pay his $10 rent, a $138 value today, until his home is in satisfactory condition. In turn, the landlord could evict him or have the negro arrested for not paying rent regardless if the landlord takes care of the upkeep. Hughes uses diction, style, and imagery to reveal the inequalities that existed between blacks and whites in the 1930s and 1940’s. Diction is the foundation of any poetry. There are three ways that the author uses diction. First, Hughes used informal diction in his work in order to relate to his audience. The low-income and possibly uneducated negro often faced racism and inequalities between themselves and their white landlords. An example of this is the use of informal words such as “gonna” (12) “ain’t” (19) and “bucks” (8) instead of …show more content…

Together, it helps prove the tenant in the poem was being mistreated. The sentences are very short to create urgency. The tone is very indignant and the author uses a euphemism to show that the tenant wants to act violently towards the landlord. ”You ain't gonna be able to say a word / If I land my fist on you" ( 19-20). Finally, the use of irony is embedded throughout the poem. The title of the poem, “Ballad of the Landlord” suggests that the poem will be told from the landlords point of view. We would envision the poem will be the woes of the landlord to glorify himself. It is ironic that the poems narrator is the tenant. The unexpected outcome with the tenant going to jail and having bad press even after the landlord illegally refused to make basic repairs on his apartment for his tenant is also ironic. One would believe that the landlord would do the right thing and fix his home to a livable condition. It is a form of situational irony that the landlord rights would supersede tenant

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The Power of Art ¨Trumpeter of Lenox and 7th / through Jesse B. Semple,/ you simply celebrated Blues and Bebop / and beling black before / it was considered hip.¨ (Wesley Boone). Although the poems ¨Long Live Langston¨ by Wesley Boone, and ¨The weary Blues¨ by Langston Hughes were written in different time periods and with different purposes, the poems show similarities such as using similar figurative language to express an idea, and differences such as communicating different themes. Here are some examples of the similarities and differences shown throughout the poems. To begin with, in the poems ¨Long Live Langston¨ by Wesley Boone, and ¨The Weary Blues¨ by Langston Hughes, the authors include similes in their work, which helps the reader understand the similarities between the poems.

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One of his most famous works is “Negro,” which is a poem that highlights African American identity through the personification of African American heritage. The narrator is the personified figure that connects African Americans by explaining historical allusions that contributed to African American heritage and culture. This personified narrator enhances the theme of unified heritage among African Americans in the poem “Negro” with the use of structure, historical parallels, and historical context. One of the ways the use of personification in “Negro” enhances the theme of unified heritage is by manifesting African American history and experience structurally into one person, who is also the narrator. Hughes wrote this poem in the first person, so the poem is laden with “my,”

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Langston Hughes was a very famous poet but also a dreamer during the 1920s when discrimination and racism were main problems in the society. He was a civil right activist who proposed the idea of equal opportunities between all races by writing poems, books, and playwrights; many of his famous literatures affected Americans in many crucial ways. Hughes’s main idea against the society was equality however he discovered that it is difficult to change people’s “norms” and stereotypes. Therefore, his humorous and serious type of writing effectively appealed to many audiences which eventually played a big role of achieving racial equality and equal opportunities.

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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.

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The main message of this poem is about city people thinking country folks aren’t as intelligent. While the message itself isn’t a very important one it add humour to the poem and makes it fun for the readers. ‘Just watch me catch him all alive, this man from Ironbark’ this quote from the poem shows the barber planning the prank that gives a feeling that this poem will be entertaining and somewhat humorous. The poet uses only two sound devices in the poem,

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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.

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1406 Words | 6 Pages

However, after reading the first stanza, it is evident to the reader that, there is oppression in the air. The first stanza reads that, “Dawn in New York has four columns of mire and a hurricane of black pigeons splashing in the putrid waters,” and this is clear to the reader that, the New York Dawn is not a normal dawn and that life in New York is despondent. According to the writer, the dawn does not come with something to smile about. After reading the poem, we realize the writer’s reason for entitling it as such.

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He writes, “The Negro said: “We can’t go downtown and sit and stare at you in your clubs While whites got the pleasure to enjoy everything that was offered to them, Negros had the deal with other end of frustrating place of unfairness. Hughes also feels that people made it seem like Negros were given opportunities (“Langston Hughes and Alain Locke’s Harlem Renaissance; African American Black Renaissance Harlem Poetry”). With trends toward interdisciplinary, internationalist, and cross-race scholarship dominating American studies at the end of the twentieth century, subsequent work attends to the journalists, sociologists, historians, and performance artists who were often financed by the patrons, prizes, and grants that have been analyzed only as they affected literary work (“Harlem Renaissance – Credo

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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.

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Genevieve Mahoney Mr. Mischinski English 10 - American Studies 2 March 2018 A Raisin in the Sun: An Analysis of The Kismet of Dreams Deferred “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry details the Youngers, a zealous black family, struggling to make their dreams come true in the slums of Chicago. Langston Hughes’ poem, "A Dream Deferred

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During the 1900s, there were many famous authors who wrote about African Americans and Civil Rights. This was what was going on during this time period. Segregation and discrimination towards blacks was increasing. Two famous authors were Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Langston Hughes wrote the poem “I, Too, Sing America.”

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“Landlord, landlord, my roof has sprung a leak…Landlord, Landlord, these steps is broken down.” The repetition of structure develops a song like rhythm to represent the relationship between the landlord and tenant similar to a parent(with higher dominance in both power and social ranks) and a child. First, the tenant claims on the roof leakage, and second he claims on the broken stairs. The tenant takes charge of the conversation by listing all possible things that could be wrong with the house. He technically whines like a child, who is impatient and impulsive.

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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.

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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.

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In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.

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