Langston Hughes Project by CindyRomina Ballesteros-Paniagua

Langston Hughes

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-06 23:52:00 UTC

Biography

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-06 23:57:48 UTC

Langston Hughes was born on Feb 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. In his childhood he wasn't raised by his father due to the separation of his parents. He was raised by his grandma and mother. Mostly raised by his grandmother since his mother moved around very often, but when his grandmother died it changed. He lived with his mother after that point. His mother and him moved to multiple cities until they settled in Cleveland, Ohio. He began to write poetry once a teacher introduced him Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman. Once he graduated high school in 1920 he moved to Mexico for a year to live with his father. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" was published in The Crisis magazine and was a great success he was praised for it. He return the the US in 1921 and began to study at Columbia University. At the same time he got involve with the Harlem Renaissance movement. In 1922 he left school and began working and signed up as a steward on a freighter. He was taken on a trip to Africa and Spain, but he still convinced its his poetry. Then 2 years later he came back and began working again; where he meet Rachel Lindsay. Due to that connection he was able to promote his poetry and have a wider audience. He studied also at Lincoln University where he gain connections with Carl Van Vechten. He graduated in 1929 from Lincoln University and he published his first novel, Not Without Laughter. He began to further explore on issues of discrimination and wrote many poems based on it. In the 1940s he was helped with the lyrics of the Broadway musical, Street Scene. With the money he earned he bought a house in Harlem. He keep writing until May 22, 1967. Where he died of prostate cancer. He was cremated and his ashes are beneath the entrance of Arthur Schomburg Center.

As I Grew Older

javierjo_673647 — 2017-04-07 00:10:33 UTC

Hughes, Langston. "As I Grew Older." PoemHunter.com. N.p., 03 Jan. 2003. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.
No credible source found

Literary Devices

javierjo_673647 — 2017-04-07 00:15:51 UTC

-Simile: a figure of speech that compares two things that are basically unlike yet have something in common with the use of "like" or "as". "In front of me, / Bright like a sun- My dream"(Hughes, lines 4-6). This is a simile because it compares his dream to the brightness of a sun with the use of "like".
-Metaphor- is a comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as". "I am black"(Hughes, line 14). This is a metaphor because it compares not only his dark skin but the darkness of his mind and the real world.
-Hyperbole- Is a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. " To break this shadow / Into a thousand lights of sun, / Into a thousand whirling dreams/ of sun!"(Hughes, lines 26-29). This is a hyperbole because he wants to destroy the shadow of hatred and segregation into many little pieces of light and dreams.
-Personification: Is when a nonhuman object is given human characteristic. "Rose until it touched the sky"(Hughes, line11). This is personification because it is personifying about the wall and that it is "growing" until it "touched the sky".
Symbol- is a person, place, object or activity that stands for something beyond itself. "Help me to shatter this darkness, / To smash this night"(Hughes, line 24-25). This is a symbol because he will tear down the wall which is the symbol that he will crumble the wall of racism.
Flashback-a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time. "It was a long time ago/ I have all most forgotten my dream, / But it was there then"(Hughes, lines 1-3). This is a flashback because the narrator remembers his dream when he was a young boy.

Let America Be America Again

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 00:21:06 UTC

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? 
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free?  Not me?
Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 00:23:46 UTC

Citation for Let America Be America

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 00:28:04 UTC

Hughes, Langston. "Let America Be America Again." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 25 Oct. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Literacy Terms

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 00:29:18 UTC

Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds of several words in a group. "Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed" ( Hughes, line 6). This is an example of alliteration because of there is a repetition of the constant D.
Imagery: is the descriptive language used in literature to recreate sensory experiences relating to sight, taste, ouch, hearing and smell. "The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain" (Hughes, lines 83-84). This as an example of imagery because the sentence makes the reader imagine these locations.
Simile: a figure of speech that compares two things that are basically unlike yet have something in common with the use of "like" or "as". "From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives" (Hughes, line 71). This is an example of a simile because he's comparing the people to leeches which stick to your skin. They suck the blood out of people so he's comparing certain people with leeches.
Rhyme: words rhyme when the sounds of their accented vowels and all succeeding sounds are identical, as in amuse and confuse. "And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung" (Hughes, line 57-59) This is an example of rhyme because in this quote he uses the words "sung" and "hung" which rhyme.
Allusion: a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work or work of art. "I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars" ( Hughes, line 20). This is an example of an allusion because its alluding back to the time of slavery in the South.
Flashback: a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier event. "I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars" (Hughes, line 20). This is an example of a flashback because its reminding of slavery which is an event that already happened.

Citation

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 01:25:03 UTC

"Langston Hughes." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 01 Aug. 2016. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 01:29:23 UTC

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 01:35:55 UTC

As I Grew Older

javierjo_673647 — 2017-04-07 02:10:18 UTC

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun—
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky—
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

Context of a As I Grew Older

javierjo_673647 — 2017-04-07 02:38:44 UTC

The theme of the poem is the negative effects of discrimination, prejudice, and discrimination. Most are unable achieve these dreams because of the oppression of other people. It is shown in this quote, "I lie down in the shadow"(Hughes, line 15). This poem tells the story of the narrator of a challenge in his life, which makes this poem a narrative. The meaning of this poem is breaking the "wall" of racism. As a young boy, the narrator gets shut out of his dreams with the problems of society. As he is older he knows he needs to us all his power to reclaim the dreams of his and others." To break this shadow"(Hughes, line 26). This poem was developed in the U.S in 1925. At the time it was segregated America, but Langston Hudges opposed of it in this poem.

Theme/Structure/ Meaning/ Historical Context

cindyrom_673641 — 2017-04-07 02:40:16 UTC

The themes of the poem is to take action of what we do. The human population is able to complies task if we can believe we can achieve it. He believes that America hasn't done that and reach its maximum strength. The structure the poem doesn't really have an exact number for each stanza. The meaning of the poem is the American Dream hasn't been achieved yet. There are minority who feel this way due to racism and discrimination. He lived during the time where the color of your skin mattered, "These were the years of segregation" ( Richardson, blog) which had a big influence in his writing. African Americans weren't treated as fairly which is why it was a big influence to this poem.

Citation for Historical Context
Richardson, Andres. "My Analytical Essay on "Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes." Powered by ASFM Tech Integration. Andres Richardson, 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Historical Context of Langston Hughes

javierjo_673647 — 2017-04-07 03:26:50 UTC

Langston Hughes had to combat the time of segregated America. Although, one of his biggest stands was that he was part of the Harlem renaissance. A time of cultural , social, and artist explosion in Harlem, New York."Hughes,more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations". His writing got negative attention both black and white critics. He wrote through many other problems in society, for example he wrote for the Chicago defender and New York Post about black Americans in the WW2 war effort. His work inspired many other artists and civil rights activists. His poems have been read around the world and translated in French ,German, Russian, Spanish, and many more.

Citation

javierjo_673647 — 2017-04-07 04:18:35 UTC

"Langston Hughes." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017.