Scribd
Upload
157 views7 pages

Hughes and His Poetry Week 3

This document provides guidance for analyzing poems by Langston Hughes. It begins with directions for a "Do Now" writing prompt comparing prose and poetry. It then defines some literary terms to use in analysis. It provides Hughes' poem "Theme for English B" and asks students to analyze how it relates to the unit's focus on racism and classism. There is a biography of Hughes noting his influences and focus on portraying Black life in America. Students are asked to read and analyze five additional Hughes poems, citing literary techniques and quoting from the poems.

Uploaded by

Danson Githinji E
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
157 views7 pages

Hughes and His Poetry Week 3

This document provides guidance for analyzing poems by Langston Hughes. It begins with directions for a "Do Now" writing prompt comparing prose and poetry. It then defines some literary terms to use in analysis. It provides Hughes' poem "Theme for English B" and asks students to analyze how it relates to the unit's focus on racism and classism. There is a biography of Hughes noting his influences and focus on portraying Black life in America. Students are asked to read and analyze five additional Hughes poems, citing literary techniques and quoting from the poems.

Uploaded by

Danson Githinji E
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Name:

Analysis of Hughes’ Poetry- Week #3


Unit Focus Question:
What is the function of racism and classism, and how do we go about challenging the impact they
have on our values, expectations, and self-identity?

In other words:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Part 1:Do Now: We just finished reading several short stories in English. We will now transition
to reading poetry. How do short stories (prose) and poetry differ? How are they similar? Explain.

Part 2: Look Over Literary Terms (Note: You will use these terms to analyze poetry and other
literary works this year. These terms will also be useful to know for the Regents).

Part 3: Langston Hughes’ “Theme For English B”


Let’s CHUNQS the poem as we read it together. Please look out for literary terms that apply to
the poem.

The instructor said,

Go home and write


a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it’s that simple?


I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me


at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?

Well, 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.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white—
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

Part 4: Analysis of Poem-How does the poem relate to the Unit’s Focus Question?
Example:
“Theme For English B,” by Langston Hughes, seems to mostly address race. The poem is told from

the 1st person point of view and is in free verse. It involves a student who has been given an

assignment by his instructor to write a page about himself. He does do that and writes of things he

enjoys, but then begins to analyze the difference between him and his instructor. The narrator of the
poem is black and his instructor is white, yet they seem connected, perhaps by being residents of this

country. “That’s American” Hughes writes, and goes on to say, “Sometimes perhaps you do not want

to be a part of me / Nor do I often want to be a part of you.” These lines of poetry speak to the

narrator’s values and expectations. He does not want to white. But sadly, he admits, at the end of the

poem, that by being black in America, he is not as “free” as his white instructor.

Part 5: Biography of Langston Hughes- Please CHUNQS while considering the previous poem.

Let’s take a moment to read about the poet’s life before we continue to read more of his works.

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was a

young child, and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to

Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in

Lincoln that Hughes began writing poetry. After graduating from high school, he spent a year in Mexico followed by a year

at Columbia University in New York City. During this time, he worked as an assistant cook, launderer, and busboy. He also

travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D. C. Hughes's first

book of poetry, The Weary Blues, (Knopf, 1926) was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college

education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter (Knopf,

1930), won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly

known for his insightful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short

stories, plays, and poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his

writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously

important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets

of the period such as Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen, Hughes refused to differentiate between his

personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that

reflected their actual culture, including their love of music, laughter, and language itself alongside their suffering.
The critic Donald B. Gibson noted in the introduction to Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays (Prentice Hall,

1973) that Hughes “differed from most of his predecessors among black poets… in that he addressed his poetry to the

people, specifically to black people. During the twenties when most American poets were turning inward, writing obscure

and esoteric poetry to an ever decreasing audience of readers, Hughes was turning outward, using language and themes,

attitudes and ideas familiar to anyone who had the ability simply to read... Until the time of his death, he spread his

message humorously—though always seriously—to audiences throughout the country, having read his poetry to more

people (possibly) than any other American poet.”

In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote eleven plays and countless works of prose, including

the well-known “Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind (Simon & Schuster, 1950); Simple Stakes a Claim (Rinehart, 1957);

Simple Takes a Wife (Simon & Schuster, 1953); and Simple's Uncle Sam (Hill and Wang, 1965). He edited the anthologies

The Poetry of the Negro and The Book of Negro Folklore, wrote an acclaimed autobiography, The Big Sea (Knopf, 1940),

and cowrote the play Mule Bone (HarperCollins, 1991) with Zora Neale Hurston.

Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer on May 22, 1967, in New York City. In his memory, his

residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation

Commission, and East 127th Street has been renamed “Langston Hughes Place.”

Attached are several poems by Hughes. Pick FIVE poems to read / CHUNQS.
If you are working from home, please find FIVE poems online by
Langston Hughes to use to complete this assignment.

Part 6- Analysis of Poems


Directions- Write the poem title and an analysis in the space provided. Part 4 can be used as
an example. Try to include literary terms and quotes from the poem in your analysis.

Poem 1- Title: _______________________

Analysis:

Poem 2- Title:

Analysis:
Poem 3- Title:

Analysis:

Poem 4- Title:

Analysis:

Poem 5- Title:

Analysis:

You might also like