During the Harlem Renaissance many authors and poets were expressing their feelings towards racism that was taking place within the world; mainly the United States. Most of these authors were African Americans who wanted to express themselves and many other people’s thoughts on the racial dispute. One of the authors was Langston Hughes, who is one of the most famous Harlem Renaissance poets. Hughes was interested in the Blues during this time which many people would say this was what influenced him to write his poems like the lyrics of a song; such as, Song of a Dark Girl. The poem’s title helps explain what Hughes is trying to portray to the audience, much like how Blues music is often associated with people having the “blues”. However, Hughes’s …show more content…
Why would the speaker, especially an African America, want to repeat part of a song that many relate to the discrimination and degrading of “blacks”? Hughes added this to the speaker’s lines to point out the discrimination that was taking place within the poem’s setting, but he also did this to show how even during his time discrimination against his race was still taking place. The idea of a song is apparent throughout the whole poem, not only within the words of the poem but in the title as well. Normally songs are associated with happiness and rejoicing, which misleads the readers into believing that this poem might lead to a modern day empowerment and enlightenment poem, but instead, it is more of a soothing poem which lets the girl (the speaker) free her mind and express her …show more content…
Hughes uses the girl as a symbol of innocence, much how a sheep is looked at in Christianity; had he used the term “woman” the idea of innocence would not have been as enforced as thoroughly. A teenager is much more emotional since emotions are what Hughes wants to tug on in the audience it makes sense that he would use the term girl. Just as many other poets of his time he wanted the audiences and world to focus on the circumstances at hand; that African Americans had feelings and thoughts just the same as the rest of the races. This is reinforced when the speaker says “Break the heart of me”, meaning that the event and the killing of this man broke her heart. However, it also broke something much more crucial than her heart, it broke her faith in