Harlem simply asks , and provides a series of disturbing answer to the questions, “what happens to a dream deferred?” A closer reading reveals the essential disunity of the poem. It is a ground of unresolved conflict. Five of the six answers to the opening questions are interrogative rather than declarative sentences. The ‘dream deferred’ is the long- postponed and frustrated dream of African Americans; a dream of freedom, equality, dignity, opportunity and success. This poem concentrates, on possible reaction to the deferral of a dream.
Hughes poem "Harlem” is a poem that is to the point and does not beat around the bush. He like many black people during this time period are just frustrated and tired of being treated like crap, from fighting for this country via wars and paying taxes like every other citizen, Hughes wanted to express his frustration. He uses it irregular rhyme a patterns to keep the reader involved and knowledgeable about the truth of black society. Some things that the narrator ask that sticks out to me was whether a dream becomes a dried-up fruit, a running sore, rotten meat, or a sweet that crusts and sugars over. This question in my eyes allows the reader on a literal sense smell the frustration of American blacks
Analysis
Interpretation
Harlem
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Written in 1951 – This was before the civil rights movement and blacks were still seen as second class citizens even after the reforms that issued between then end of the Civil War and that time
“ like a raisin in the sun?” – Used as the title of the play Lorraine Hansberry that illustrated the deferred dreams of a black family living in Chicago during the 1950s
Poem
Historical Context
Works Cited
- "A Selection of the Poetry of Langston Hughes." A Selection of the Poetry of Langston Hughes. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/langston.html>.
- Mitchell, Amber. "True Identity in Hughes." OBU News. 14 Aug. 2004. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://www.okbu.edu/news/2004-08-13/true-identity-in-hughes>.
- "Langston Hughes: Theme for English B." Langston Hughes: Theme for English B. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html>.
- "Harlem: Langston Hughes - Summary and Critical Analysis." Harlem: Langston Hughes - Summary and Critical Analysis. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/harlem
Langston Hughes
- McIntyre, John. "Harlem." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175884>.
Historical Context
Racial Discrimination predominant in the 1950’s
1951 – 1950’s were part of the second Great Migration from the South to northern cities
"This college on the hill above Harlem".”(9) – This refers to Columbia University
POEM:
White workers of the South
Miners,
Farmers,
Mechanics,
Mill Hands,
Shop girls,
Railway men,
Servants,
Tobacco workers,
Sharecroppers,
GREETINGS!
I am the black worker,
Listen:
That the land might be ours,
And the mines and the factories and the office towers
At Harlan, Richmond, Gastonia, Atlanta, New Orleans;
That the plants and the roads and the tools of power
Be ours:
Let us forget what Booker T. said,
"Separate as the fingers."
Let us become instead, you and I,
One single hand
That can united rise
To smash the old dead dogmas of the past-
To kill the lies of color
That keep the rich enthroned
And drive us to the time-clock and the plow
Helpless, stupid, scattered, and alone-as now-
Race against race,
Because one is black,
Another white of face.
Let us new lessons learn,
All workers,
New life-ways make,
One union form:
Until the future burns out
Every past mistake
Let us together, say:
"You are my brother, black or white,
You my sister-now-today!"
For me, no more, the great migration to the North.
Instead: migration into force and power-
Tuskegee with a new flag on the tower!
on every lynching tree, a poster crying FREE
Because, O poor white workers,
You have linked your hands with me.
We did not know that we were brothers.
Now we know!
out of that brotherhood
Let power grow!
We did not know
That we were strong.
Now we see
In union lies our strength.
Let unions be
The force that breaks the time-clock,
Smashes misery,
Takes land,
Takes factories,
Takes office towers,
Takes tools and banks and mines.
Railroads, ships and dams,
Until the forces of the world
Are ours!
White worker,
Here is my hand.
Today,
We're Man to Man.
Poem
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.
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 clas
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?
Interpretation
Theme for English B
Open Letter To The South
Hughes poem "Open Letter To The South" is a very strong poem showing his determination to break down the racial barrier. He is calling for all of the working classes to unite under one cause. For them to put race and creed to the side to relies that they are all fighting for the same cause in the workforce, the greedy and wealthy. While I see his intentions in this poem I cannot help but catch an order of Socialism being described such as, talking of joining hands and rising above, with new flags flying and a new order. I'm sure the intentions were not that of Socialism but could easily be perceived that way.
Analysis
, but he is being influenced by his instructor and white society in general. This unnerves him because he doesn’t know what is true. However, through the writing assignment he comes to realize that there is no guarded border between black and white in America or in his life.”
"Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B” is a poem about identity. The speaker explores the truth about himself through a writing assignment given to him by a college instructor.
Throughout the poem the speaker struggles with the notion that he is black
Historical Context
"Separate as the fingers." - This was part of Booker T. Washington’s 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech. He was saying that in all things social the races could be separate, but as one for all things of forward progress.
“the great migration to the North” – Referring to the migration of nearly six million southern worker from the south to northern cities.
Many references going against Booker T Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Speech.
Interpretation
Hughes Poem “Theme for English B” is an interesting poem that battles his own self-identification and the perception of black in that time. He is a young black man that is a student at Columbia University, a very prestigious university. He continues to ponder over what makes him what he is, and begins to realize that racial inequality is only skin deep. He mentions wanting and liking the same things as everyone else. He comes to the conclusion what we are all the same, and although we might not want to be at times, we are. We are all Americans.