Langston Hughes
Theme for English BThe 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.
1951
posted by Elizabeth @ 4:22 PM
5 Comments:
I found this literature interesting. At the age of twenty-two, the author is curious about himself. In the generation that he was raised was not positive because of hatred against black and white. Instead he looked at every indiviual as equal, and we could all learn from each other.
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#702-I like this Langston Hughes he bring me life in this saying this a literature of his life. Tell us more about who is really is. The only black in class and the teacher ask him too write a paper. but, when he say "Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life." that tell us all we need too know.
Sometimes when I write I struggle to get my thoughts and words down on paper. I struggle and the ending result is not always what I expected or wanted it to be. I feel it is because I think too much about it and cannot just write as the thoughts flow out because of the obstacle of saying it the best way I can. I like this passage because it all flows together. It feels very real and not forced. It is honest. He explains every moment and thought. Each sentence follows the next perfectly. He wrote the thoughts as they came and that is what makes it most true to him.
112
Langston Hughes kept it real in this poem. I'm not big on poetry but, I can usually appreciate a poem for what it's worth. this poem sounds natural, much like if you could just see his raw thought before he decorated his thoughts with the touch of the usual poet's eloquent way.
-009
Langston Hughes was a master of rhythm, and that is my favorite part of his poems. I think that this poem is successful as a poem for it’s story and rhyme alone, but when you read it you feel the beat. Hughes tells a story just as a jazz musician would, drawing the reader in with it’s rhythm. I think my favorite poem by Langston Hughes is called “Mother to Son.” Here Hughes does the same thing, tells his story with beautiful images, real emotion, and hypnotizing rhythm.
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