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The Theme For English B By Langston Hughes

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The Theme for English B is one of Hughes’ most famous poems. As an African-American writer, Langston Hughes was one of the founders of the Harlem Renaissance. The Renaissance defined an intellectual movement that was created in Harlem, New York with a motive for creating a new black identity when it was most needed. The Theme for English B poem concerns a 22-year-old African-American who is given the assignment to write a one-page truthful assignment about himself. The speaker writes about his life experience at Harlem by giving his hobbies and telling what he considers to be right in a racially divided city. Despite using a simple language and a free-verse form to offer the audience the student’s actual feelings, the poem possibly brings together diverse rhythm, racial segregation, and nativity to provide the distinctive nature of human desires and the aspect of white supremacy in America during that time. The composition, …show more content…

Firstly, there is no doubt that the poet uses a simple language, which has been reinforced with a free-verse form. These styles are used together to offer the audience the actual feeling of the colored student. Secondly, the poem, Theme for English B, was written at the time when African-American identities were very much needed. Hughes tries to show the need for accepting the blacks as part of the larger American society and as such need to be treated similarly as the whites. Finally, as much as the whites do not want to accept the blacks as part of the American society, they see themselves as being part. Therefore, the lesson that follows from the analysis is that no matter the differences in ethnicity and skin color amid blacks and whites, they might often learn something from one another, and hence the need for racial unity and mutual American

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The Harlem Renaissance was a period in American history, which occurred in the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The cultural movement was an opportunity for African Americans to celebrate their heritage through intellectual and artistic works. Langston Hughes, a famous poet, was a product of the Harlem Renaissance. One notable piece of literature by Hughes is “Dream Deferred”. However, the discussion of African American culture isn’t limited to the 1920s.

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In Langston Hughes poem “Theme for English B”, the instructor who is white, instructs the only black student in his class to “Go home and write a page tonight, and let that page come out of you, then it will be true” (Lines 1-5). Hughes looks at many aspects of poetry composition from the assignment. Hughes use of personification in this poem, shows human traits to non human things, as in when he was discussing the city. However, Hughes also use visual imagery as well as metaphor. This expands his imaginative and critical abilities as he uses his poem to reflect on racial relations in twentieth-century America.

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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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In the poem “Theme for English B,” by Langston Hughes 1949, experiences of the speaker during the Harlem Renaissance, this poem is about the speaker writing about his experience during the Harlem Renaissance and the diversities of that time. In the poem “Any Human to Another,” by Countee Cullen 1934, the speaker growing up during the Harlem Renaissance and how it was like and how other connected with Cullen. Both poems are similar because both of the poems the speaker talks about human connections, seeking equality, and both were during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes’s poem is different from Cullen’s poem because Hughes speaks about being different racially, and Hughes’ theme is race and diversity. The influence of the Harlem Renaissance created the theme; why the theme was connection in the first place.

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Langston Hughes was an African American poet whose poetry was influential during the Harlem Renaissance. He often wrote about the struggles that were facing African Americans. His poem “Theme for English B” is about a twenty-two year old African American’s response to his white instructor’s writing assignment. He is told to, “Go home and write / a page tonight / And let that page come out of you / Then, it will be true,” (2-6).

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It talks about how yesterday was a thing of the past and that it cannot be changed. He talks about how each day, African Americans must march on towards their dreams. Despite prejudice, oppression, and poverty that African Americans faced at this time, Hughes points to a positive in that the only way their dreams will come true is if they focus on the present day and what they can do to fix things. They cannot be looking at the past and what has happened. His message to the audience in this poem is towards the youth, in particular African-Americans.

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This poem shows that by growing up in a racist world, the mind becomes plagued with harmful ideas such as “I can’t.” The human soul may never know true joy in a world that takes them for

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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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The poem speaks to the experiences of black Americans and their struggle for equality in a society that often overlooked and oppressed them. Hughes uses powerful imagery and language to convey the message of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. He declares in the brief poem that he still sings like an American despite feeling forgotten and pushed away by the dominant members of society and describes how he felt like a neglected American citizen due to the color of his skin. The poem also highlights the struggle of African Americans during the time period, as they were not given the same rights and opportunities as their white counterparts. Hughes uses repetition to emphasize the importance of keeping going even when things are hard.

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When reading the poem, Theme for English B, I was impressed by the image of a “colored student” in the poem. In this poem, the black student is also the speaker who expresses his doubts about figuring out who he is because he is only African American in his English class. I can see the black student’s characteristics in this poem. For instance, the speaker writes: “I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love I like to work, read, learn, and understand life” (Hughes, lines 21-22).

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A bildungsroman is typically a novel. It tells the story of a youth coming-of-age, gaining maturity, and growing up. Can a bildungsroman be a poem? Can a youth come of age in just a few stanzas? When considering all the necessary parts and pieces that create a bildungsroman, especially the journey the protagonist must undertake, a poem is simply not long enough.

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“Theme for English B” is a poem by Langston Hughes in which a black student who studies in a predominantly white university is given an assignment. The assignment is to write a page that comes from the heart, because that way, according to his instructor, it will be true. In the poem the student constantly tries to tell his instructor through his paper that even though he is black, he does the same things as white people. The student goes to great lengths to try and get his point across to his instructor, which is that even though his skin is black, he is not different than other students in his class.

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Langston Hughes work shaped the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s. Hughes differentiates from other writers as he refuses to make a distinction between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. His objective was to illustrate in his poems the culture of African Americans, and include both their suffering and their love for music and language itself. Hughes wrote Theme for english b in 1951, during this time period there was a huge difference in the equality between races. The schools designated for African Americans were inadequate in terms of buildings, transport and teachers salaries when compared to schools provided for white.

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Meanwhile, the readers can learn something for each of the poems and apply it to their life. They can also noticed how Langston Hughes’s poems often contains hope and noted the possibility that both white and black people can live together in peace and harmony. And the poems also represent the average person of colors’ life and their struggles and frustrations towards the white community throughout the twentieth century. “Theme for English B” was written in 1949 by Hughes, which showcases the

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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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