In my view, the poem works out Hughes's apprehension, his feeling that his ability to understand the emotions that generated this form of artistic expression was not on a par with the expression itself This is indicated by the last line of the poem, where the speaker notes that the piano player "slept like a rock or a man that's dead." ... That is, a case can be made in which we need not equate the speaker in the poem with Hughes at all. While Hughes obviously had a strong desire to "link the lowly blues to formal poetry," locking him into the poem ignores its efficacy as cultural co...

• Word Count: 547
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

(from Langston Hughes, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.") ... In a letter that Aaron Douglas wrote to Langston Huges he described the feeling that he felt towards the Renaissance he wrote, "Let's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. ... Langston Hughes once said "The ordinary Negro hasn't heard of the Negro Renaissance. ... Writers were able to deliver a more subtle, and more effective, message by...

• Word Count: 1369
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

A new generation of young writers and artists, including Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes took ownership of the literary Renaissance (Collier, 1985). Langston Hughes was one of the poets who published many works of literature during this time. ...

• Word Count: 2619
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In Langston Hughes' I, Too, Sing America, Hughes' says "I am the darker brother. ... " (Hughes 1) Referring to his skin color, by saying he is the darker brother, and showing the oppression he receives by being forced to eat in the kitchen. ... The second half of the poem states "Tomorrow, I'll be at the table when company comes. ... Besides, they'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed" (Hughes 1) In conclusion, throughout American Literature many forms of writing have emerged and each has had their own set of distinguishable characteristics. ...

• Word Count: 969
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Seamus Heaney's poem, Mid-Term Break, is a great example of how society's expectations can impact identity because the poem is about a young man who is away at school to obtain an education and establish his identity when he is called back home to deal with the death of his younger brother. From reading the poem, it's clear that the narrator left his family to pursue an identity of his own, and the first line of the poem suggests that he isn't happy about having to return home out of obligation as the oldest child. ... Another poem that touches on identity and social expect...

• Word Count: 2322
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate