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Langston Hughes Poem Analysis

This poem by Langston Hughes expresses his optimism for racial equality in America as an African American man. He is sent to the kitchen when the family has guests, but says "tomorrow, I'll be at the table when company comes" to show his belief that someday black people will have equal rights and status. Hughes uses pronouns like "I" and "they" to represent black and white Americans and their differing treatment. The structure includes a tercet expressing the dream of equality, though it is still small and ignored by the world. Through language and tone, Hughes conveys hope that someday black people will receive their due respect and white people will recognize their beauty and humanity.

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287 views2 pages

Langston Hughes Poem Analysis

This poem by Langston Hughes expresses his optimism for racial equality in America as an African American man. He is sent to the kitchen when the family has guests, but says "tomorrow, I'll be at the table when company comes" to show his belief that someday black people will have equal rights and status. Hughes uses pronouns like "I" and "they" to represent black and white Americans and their differing treatment. The structure includes a tercet expressing the dream of equality, though it is still small and ignored by the world. Through language and tone, Hughes conveys hope that someday black people will receive their due respect and white people will recognize their beauty and humanity.

Uploaded by

Adam Afifi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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This text is a poem.

Langston Hughes published this poem in March 1926 during


the Harlem renaissance, which was the revival of the African American culture, music,
dance, art etc…. In this response focus will be on, How successful has the poem used
language, structure and tone to achieve its purpose.
The purpose of this text is to express how Langston Hughes felt as though he is
an unforgotten American because of his skin color. Hughes is sent to eat in the kitchen
when there is a guest, he believes that tomorrow, when a guest comes, he will sit at the
table, and no one will dare tell him anything, He is an American, and has the rights to
sing as an American. The audience of this poem is every white American, who believes
African Americans should be a “slave” or does not have the same rights as them.
“Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table when company comes” Hughes is showing that every
African American is strong, and tomorrow, will have their rights.
Langston Hughes uses the pronoun “I” to symbolize the African American race
and their rights, and uses the pronoun “they” to describe the white race. “I too sing
America,” The author here describes that every African American is allowed to sing
America, and is allowed to be an American just like how white people are. The author
also uses “They” showing that the white people are victims that they are doing
something wrong, and that African Americans are just as good as, they are in
everything. “They’ll see how beautiful I am”, Langston Hughes highlights the point that
African Americans are beautiful, smart, fun, Hughes is trying to prove everyone wrong.
The poem’s structure has a Tercet that proves to the audience that there is
equality. The fourth stanza is a Tercet, used to prove the white American race wrong,
that the African Americans are beautiful, and that the dream of equality does not exist.
The tercet shows the audience that there is the dream of equality, but although it is
there, to the world it is just a small dream that no one cares about. “Besides, they’ll see
how beautiful I am, and be ashamed—“
The author uses a metaphor to describe the African Americans as “beautiful”.
The speaker wants to show the reader that now they may treat African Americans as
slaves, and use them for their own good, but later when African Americans receive their
rights, they will see how wrong they are, and be proven wrong, and know that African
Americans are just normal humans just like they are, and there is no difference. “They’ll
see how beautiful I am”.
Langston Hughes is optimistic; he strongly believes that in the future, African
Americans will get what they deserved for a long time, their rights. Langston Hughes
uses the future tense to express his feeling, of being optimistic, towards receiving his
rights in the future. “Nobody’ll dare” Hughes is speaking in the future to show that in the
future when he receives his rights, no one will be able to talk to him and tell him to go to
the kitchen. “Tomorrow” He symbolizes the future as tomorrow.
The author describes African Americans as “the darker brother” this symbolizes
the African American society and unites them. Hughes describes white Americans as
brothers and siblings who are close to each other, he states that they are the same, just
a different skin color that should not have any relation with the way they treat African
Americans. “I am the darker brother” shows the reader that the speaker is from a black
community that just wants peace in this world, and to achieve the dream of equality to
the fullest.
In conclusion, the popular Poem by Langston Hughes is successful. The Poem
has used tone in an optimistic way to show that there is still hope; the poem has used a
different structure by adding a tercet, that describes a dream, and finally has used
language like symbolism, and metaphors to describe the African Americans, and their
dream, which is so simple yet so hard for the world to complete.

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