An Analysis of Langston Hughes Poems

If there’s a will there’s a way in Langston Hughes poems

A change can be happened if we have a will, and then we have to do the way. Sometimes we forget what the most important to have the change, and in Langston’s Poems we will see what the dream of Langston in his life about American Black. As a man has black skin, he considered that he is one of black Americans that have bad life in America. He told what the blue the black Americans in that time. Through these two poems he told all the human life in America, his dream, and his experience in society. They are “As I Grew Older” and “Dream Variations”. Both of them were made by Langston Hughes.

 Hughes was a writer committed to his people, American Negroes, who suffered under segregation and discriminatory laws. His concern for justice drove him to write in a number of literary genres, including poetry, short stories, novels, plays, and essays. His poems for children stress the potential in life, encourage them to look for the good things that life has to offer, and to actively seek happiness. He was one of the few poets to state such simple ideas in the elementary language that his intended audience would understand, raising undereducated readers up to noble thoughts instead of talking down to them. Firstly we can analysis the poem ‘As I Grew Older’.

As I grew older

                                                                   Langston Hughes

It was a long time ago

I have almost forgotten my dream

But it was there then

In front of me

Bright like a sun

My dream

And then wall rose

Rose slowly

Slowly

Between me and my dream

Rose until it touched the sky

The wall

Shadow

I am black

I lie down in the shadow

No longer the light of my dream before me

Above me

Only the thick wall

Only the shadow

My hands!

My dark hands!

Break through the wall!

Find my dream!

Help me to shatter this darkness,

To smash this night

To break this shadow

Into a thousand lights of sun

Into a thousand whirling dreams

Of sun!

Throughout this poem is about the inability to achieve childhood dreams because of racism and prejudice. It means blacks and whites society. When Langston was young, he had dreams of achieving great things. His dreams were "Bright like a sun". As he grew up, he experienced prejudice and racial discrimination, and his naive and optimistic dreams were shattered.

In the first stanza of this poem, Hughes writes that his dream was: “in front of me, bright like a sun—My dream.” Hughes’s dream is the dream of a non-racist society in America and the freedom for anyone to do what they choose and be treated equally. At the same time, Hughes’s dream can also be treated as Hughes’s future. Hughes’s dream first appeared to be “bright like the sun” because when we’re a child, we aren’t aware of what’s actually happening around you. Children don’t know the true reasons for why their community is the way that it is and Hughes’s didn’t understand either. Hughes’s dream was bright because he wasn’t old enough to realize that there would be things in his way keeping him from his dream. Also, it’s important to note that Hughes’s says “My dream” to show possession of the idea he holds. This is later related to other possessions Hughes’s describes in his poem. Another reason why Hughes’s writes “my dream” is because Hughes’s dream was different from a white man at the time.

Facing discrimination throughout his life, Hughes’s continues to describe racism when Hughes’s writes “And then a wall rose, rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream.” The wall Hughes’s refers to is the wall of discrimination. This wall “slowly” blocked his dream. Hughes’s describes the blockage as slow to show the many small efforts people used to keep America segregated.

In the third stanza, Hughes’s writes that the wall “rose until it touched the sky--. The wall. Shadow. I am black. I lie down in the shadow.” There are many things going on in this stanza that illustrates Hughes’s place in society at that time and the extent of racism. We, as a reader should notice that Hughes’s first writes that the wall rose up to touch the sky in a single line but he then breaks up the words in the following lines to act as if the action was taking place with the words. First Hughes’s describes what is moving up and he writes on a single line, “The Wall.” Then Hughes’s continues to describe what happens when the wall is in place and that’s “Shadow.” In the third single line Hughes’s confirms (if not already known), “I am black.” This simple description is then followed by a single line with, “I lie down in the shadow.” “The Wall” that Hughes’s describes is a symbol of the white people who were racist. This wall casts a “shadow” over Hughes and this shadow represents the restrictions and laws that were made in discrimination against black people.

Once the shadow is created, Hughes’s writes: “I am black,” which is literally the current state of his shadowed atmosphere but more so the fact that Hughes’s is African American. Then he tells that he’s lying down in the shadow. This shadow is describing the lower conditions that African American’s had to live with in the midst of segregated America. Hughes’s ends this stanza by saying “No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me.” Since his dream is no longer above him, the dream is beneath him. This can be interpreted as saying that the dream of freedom and equality is unrealistic or it’s saying that the dream has been temporarily disabled because of the wall created by white people. In order to break free of his restrictions, Hughes describes his “dark hands” that will be able to “break through the wall,” and “find his dream. The dark hands Hughes describes is his culture and his own people. Hughes believes that with perseverance African Americans can break through the wall created by white people and find their dreams.

In the last stanza, Hughes says that these hands can: “help me shatter this darkness, to smash this night, to break this shadow into a thousand lights of the sun, into a thousand whirling dreams of sun!” “Shatter” adds more emphasis to Hughes description of how African Americans will prevail through civil rights and by breaking the shadow into a thousand lights of the sun the blacks are breaking the restrictions cast by white people and making society equal as a whole. The darkness is the shadow that was created by the wall that grew taller and taller. Hughes is able to break the darkness and let light in through the wall.

He uses imagery to describe his own ability to overcome prejudice in his society. Langston Hughes ends his poem by describing the dreams to becoming: “of sun!” to show that his dream may still be too far to reach but when reached will shine brighter than all of the dreams ever to come true. The light from the sun is seen by Hughes again and it’s as if he and his dreams were reunited.

Dream Variations

           

By Langston Hughes

To fling my arms wide

in some place of the sun,

To whirl and to dance

Till the white day is done

Then rest at cool evening

Beneath a tall three

While night comes on gently,

Dark like me-

That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide

In the face of the sun,

Dance! Whirl! Whirl!

Till the quick day is done.

Rest at pale evening

A tall, slim tree..

Night coming tenderly

Black like me

And next ‘Dream Variations’, it combines two distinct motifs that were evident in Langston Hughes's poetry throughout his lifetime. It is written in a structure that copies the repetitions of American blues music, and it is aimed, as many of his works were, primarily at children. Published first in 1932, in the collection The Dream Keeper and Other Poems,

Upon first reading, Hughes’s poem appears to be merely the recounting of a simple dream by an unnamed speaker. The action and images of the poem are so spare, at first sight seeming to reveal only that the speaker is having a dream about dancing in a “place in the sun” and then resting underneath a tree until night descends. But of course, the poem is about much more. Indeed it is striking that in seventeen uncomplicated lines Hughes is able to suggest such a wealth of ideas, touching as he does on subjects like the social reality of the 1920s, Black Americans’ spiritual connection with Africa, and racial prejudice. Part of the reason he is able to call up so much in so short a space is that the subject of the poem is a dream. As with all dreams, to understand fully the significance of what is represented requires a significant amount of interpretation, imagination, and background knowledge. As anyone who has helped a person close to them decipher the meaning of a dream knows, close scrutiny of the dream’s images coupled with an intimate knowledge of the dreamer can yield impressions or truths that are not at all obvious at the outset. Thus “Dream Variations,” more than most poems, benefits not only from a careful probing into the action and imagery in the poem itself but also an examination of the poet/dreamer and his beliefs, social background, and main concerns. A fuller understanding of the poem comes when the reader can understand the layers of meaning that are contained within the simple descriptions presented, and these layers of meaning may be uncovered by gaining a deeper understanding of the poet and his interests and influences. “Dream Variations” is one of Hughes’s early poems, written in 1924 when he was only twenty two. Although he had not yet established his reputation as a poet, during this time, Hughes was gaining some renown as an important new voice in African−American circles. Also, despite his young age, the poet had already lived a full life. His parents separated when he was young, and he lived with his grandmother

“Dream Variations” is a subtle celebration of blackness as it presents darkness and night in positive terms. Again, the ideas in the poem are not stated overtly but merely suggested. The speaker is in a dreamy place of love and relaxation and he is identified with the “gentle” and “tender” night. The references to “white” and “pale” are not at all derogatory, implying that feelings of prejudice because of color are unnatural and unfounded. In the speaker’s dream, white, paleness, darkness, and night are all part of the beautiful landscape. But the speaker himself identifies with night and darkness. In the place of his dream, night comes gently and tenderly; it is not to be feared but welcomed. The speaker praises night, the time of dreams, and with it, he also celebrates himself and his race.

 Hughes was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic movement of the 1920s and 1930s, which brought the New York African-American arts community into prominence. He used the blues structure because it was familiar to blacks who found no point of reference in standard literary modes. Using a blues style also helped Hughes swiftly and efficiently convey the mixed emotions of hope and fear that the poem brings together. Analyzing blues music in a book previous to The Dream Keeper, he observed, "The mood of the Blues is almost always despondency, but when they are sung, people laugh." This poem takes whatever the mental process is that makes people react to bleakness with laughter, and nudges it upward toward positive action.

In conclusion, the meaning of these poems are because he is black, Langston Hughes is unable to achieve his dreams. As a child, he was unaware of the cruelty of the world and in his innocent optimism dared to dream of achieving great things. As time went by and he got older, he realized that because of prejudice, racism and discrimination, his opportunities were limited and he was thus blocked from being able to achieve his dreams. The resulting despair is described as, or compared to, shadow as he goes on to say that in his defeat, 'I lie down in the shadow'.  And by these poems, Langston writes his hopes to throw out the discrimination. . The fact that the single reason for these obstacles is his black skin makes it even more hurtful.

BY : Ridho Vandi Ambarita

NIM: 110705101

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