Theme for English B

- Langston Hughes

Just who is Langston Hughes? Would knowledge of him would help us understand this poem? Often knowledge of the writers does provide clues to the writers work. Often time writers produce works that reflect their concerns about social issues, human conditions and so on. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes#Career one gets the following information: Hughes was unashamedly black at a time when blackness was dmod. He stressed the theme of "black is beautiful" as he explored the black human condition in a variety of depths.[36] His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience.[14][37] His poetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working class blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind,"[38] Hughes is quoted as saying. He confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded African Americas image of itself; a peoples poet who sought to reeducate both audience and artist by lifting the theory of the black aesthetic into reality. So, Hughes was American and black and produced most of his works between the 1920s and 1967, the year in which he died. Of course, that was during the heyday of racial segregation. One can then understand why Hughes stood out because he was brave, a radical, a revolutionary poet even because he believed in himself and his people. He was unashamedly black at a time when blackness was dmod. Blacks were scorned and treated less than human beings. Thus, Hughes rallying point was that his people, black people, were as valid as any other groups in the USA and ought to be treated as such. In a sense too, he was concerned with defining the American. There was something common to all those who occupied those fifty-two or so states despite the colour of their skin or ethnicity.

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Theme for English B

The Poem The Title

- Langston Hughes

The title Theme for English B seems somewhat of a platitude (a statement that is ordinary and seems to have no real importance). That is very intentional since Hughes is really trying to unearth some deep-seated attitudes and beliefs about the Negro that have long been accepted as normal within the American society. English B, we know has to do with literary works - people and their relationships and responses to challenges of life. So then, although this theme is not flambouyant it nevertheless suggests that the poet wants to deal with something relating to human relationships, condition, or circumstances. Because we already know that this poets concern is about his race, black people, we would not be out of place if we assume that it would explore a similar theme. With this expectation, therefore, we can launch into the poem. We are struck first of all by the uneven distribution of the lines and stanzas of the poem. This is a good example of free verse. The poet is not confined to a strict adherence to having stanzas of equal number of lines and uniform rhyme scheme. He writes freely and can therefore accomplish more in how he organizes words and lines and stanzas and rhymes than he would with other conventional forms of poems. Prelude We can call the first part an introduction or a prelude. Those lines that are written in italics and indented are the exact words of the instructor. Hughes is apparently writing as a student in college or university. This is the assignment: Go home and write A page tonight. And let that page come out of you Then it will be true. Out of this seemingly mundane (ordinary, unexciting) request in the form of an assignment evolves this poem. The task seems simple enough. He was to go home and write an essay that would reflect who he was. This was supposed to be a sincere effort so that it will be true. The assignment by its very nature forces self examination in an attempt to establish ones identity. One wonders if under normal circumstances any individual stops to make such conscious and true assessment of themselves or do people just take them for granted and carry on with life. It seems, however, for a black student in the United States of America during the years when Hughes wrote, this was a more profound and thought-provoking exercise. He, thus, begins with a question, an uncertainty and thereby, prepares us for a very philosophical examination of himself within a context of racial differences. The Rest of the Poem
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Theme for English B

- Langston Hughes

So Hughes proceeds to identify himself. He is twenty-two and colored! He was born in Winston-Salem. Is there anything of worth or importance that we should know about WinstonSalem that would have a bearing on our understanding of the young Hughes? Well, WinstonSalem is a typical city in the Southern state of North Carolina. It has a fairly large black population. Blacks comprise a little more than one-thirds the total population. It is Durham, another of the North Carolinian towns where Hughes received part of his education that is known for spearheading civil rights campaigns from the very beginning of the struggles against segregation. So it is this young man who was born, bred, and educated in this Southern state and who would have experienced first-hand the discomfort and demeaning effects of segregation who now has to write an essay from his heart that would convey truth. He is the only colored student in his class. The university he attends is on a hill just above Harlem. This is in New York City, New York a Northern State. In a very significant way, Hughes movement to the North to complete his education is symbolic of the movement made by many blacks from the South to escape institutionalized racism and segregation that were rampant there. It is in Harlem also that many intellectual blacks had taken up residence and there was an emergence of literary works by blacks particularly, that were redefining blacks from the image of worthless slave to someone of consequence. This movement is referred to the Harlem Renaissance. It is in this era then that Hughes is writing. In fact, Langston Hughes is one of the names associated with a new kind of poetry called Jazz Poems. It is therefore, this kind of awakening then that nurtured this kind of poem. So in the poem thus far, Hughes has established through his references to the places that identity is partly as a consequence of ones place of birth, place of education (both formal and informal education), and ones environment. He says it is normally difficult for an individual at twentytwo to accurately be able to identify the truths about himself but he guesses it is what he feels, sees and hears. At this point he feels, sees and hears Harlem. Harlem was shaping him and at the same time he was contending that he was also influencing through his literary works what was happening there also. This essay must therefore, reflect these. But are these the only factors that have shaped him into what he is at this point? How does he match up to others around his age? He says I like to eat, sleep, drink and be in love. I like to work, read, learn and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present. Or records Bessie, Bop, or Bach How different are these likes / desires from those of any other person at his age irrespective of race? So what point is Hughes seeking to establish here? He is saying that despite the accident of place of birth and perhaps learning, he has the same hopes and dreams and desires as any other person his age irrespective of race. There is one unifying element. He is as American as any white person. That is why he says in lines 25-26: I guess being colored doesnt make me not like / the same things other folks like who are other races.

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Theme for English B

- Langston Hughes

Lines 27 33 express the paradox that defines them all black, white, or whatever other race. He asks the question, so will my page be colored that I write? Though because he is black it wont be white yet he concedes that it would also be a reflection of his instructor (lecturer) who is white. The paradox is they are all a part of each other Thats American! This is the theme. This is the truth that his paper would reflect. Hughes hastens to add that the reality is that people in multi-racial societies often deny the influence other races have in shaping them. The reality is we all learn from each other and learning and influence cut across race and age. This is the message Hughes wants to get across to the white elitists, here represented by his white lecturer who might be more free but is confined to the same milieu (mixture, melting-pot) by being American.

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