Langston Hughes Theme For English B
Theme for English B
Literature and poetry have long been a part of our social makeup from the ancient writings of Homer to relatively modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the most influential writers of the twentieth century was Langston Hughes, who rose through the Harlem Renaissance to deal with social and race issues through his various literary works. Several of his works have left their imprint on American society, especially when the racial divide was more obvious years ago. One of his most famous poems was “Theme for English B” where he used several poetic devices to help the reader connect with, and understand, the poem.
The tone of the poem remains particularly straightforward and blunt from the beginning to the …show more content…
Hughes uses the white paper as a metaphor for race as he asks “So will my page be colored that I write?” The metaphor connects the reader with the underlying meaning of the poem: racism. He spent the beginning of the poem talking about being a normal student and then begins to point out the ways he is thought to be different through these normal studious things. Hughes, also, gives a sense of personification to Harlem when he says “Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me.” The student refers to Harlem as if he is having a conversation with it to help the reader get an idea of the connection this student has with the Harlem community. An important symbol seems to be when the student refers to his school as “this college on the hill above Harlem”. This phrase symbolizes the view that people who go to this college are above the people in the town of Harlem. However, it seems to be a paradox, because this student is one with Harlem yet he has risen above the public view and landed at the “college on the hill”. The use of language in the poem is especially effective to reveal a better understanding of the students history in an effort to better understand the situation he, and his fellow African Americans, were in at the time of this
Literature and poetry have long been a part of our social makeup from the ancient writings of Homer to relatively modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of the most influential writers of the twentieth century was Langston Hughes, who rose through the Harlem Renaissance to deal with social and race issues through his various literary works. Several of his works have left their imprint on American society, especially when the racial divide was more obvious years ago. One of his most famous poems was “Theme for English B” where he used several poetic devices to help the reader connect with, and understand, the poem.
The tone of the poem remains particularly straightforward and blunt from the beginning to the …show more content…
Hughes uses the white paper as a metaphor for race as he asks “So will my page be colored that I write?” The metaphor connects the reader with the underlying meaning of the poem: racism. He spent the beginning of the poem talking about being a normal student and then begins to point out the ways he is thought to be different through these normal studious things. Hughes, also, gives a sense of personification to Harlem when he says “Harlem, I hear you: hear you, hear me.” The student refers to Harlem as if he is having a conversation with it to help the reader get an idea of the connection this student has with the Harlem community. An important symbol seems to be when the student refers to his school as “this college on the hill above Harlem”. This phrase symbolizes the view that people who go to this college are above the people in the town of Harlem. However, it seems to be a paradox, because this student is one with Harlem yet he has risen above the public view and landed at the “college on the hill”. The use of language in the poem is especially effective to reveal a better understanding of the students history in an effort to better understand the situation he, and his fellow African Americans, were in at the time of this