I Will Be Me That’s My Theme”
Kenya Pollonais
English: 150
Prof: Victoria A. Chevalier
11/03/13
“I Will Be Me That’s My Theme”
The poem “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes presents a powerful critique of racism in America and, while recognizing the difficulties of integration, presents the idea that the foremost characteristic amongst all people is that we share the same human experience.
The premise behind this poem is that the narrator is a black college student whose instructor has given his students an assignment to write a paper about themselves. While the poem takes the reader through his walk home from class and his thought process about “who he is”, the final line of the poem, “This is my page for English B” suggests that this poem is the paper he has written for class. Langston Hughes wrote this poem during the Harlem Renaissance of the late 1910s, so a reader might immediately assume that the main topic involves race or racial prejudice. The second stanza almost takes this direction when the narrator mentions that he is “the only colored student in his class”, the third stanza changes directions, though, when the narrator, addressing his white instructor, says, “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races”. This suggests that he is not, because he is black, different than others, but rather, the same. This line seems pretty simple at first, but when you think about it, it's got a few layers to it.
This poem also appears to be a critique and statement on poetry. When Hughes states, “And let that page come out of you then, it will be true,” he lays his philosophy on poetry out for all to see. Poetry does not need to have any specific agenda or special qualifications; as long as the author of a poem believes in the words they have written down, all other considerations are moot.
The narrator poses a rhetorical question as to whether the page that he would fill in
English: 150
Prof: Victoria A. Chevalier
11/03/13
“I Will Be Me That’s My Theme”
The poem “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes presents a powerful critique of racism in America and, while recognizing the difficulties of integration, presents the idea that the foremost characteristic amongst all people is that we share the same human experience.
The premise behind this poem is that the narrator is a black college student whose instructor has given his students an assignment to write a paper about themselves. While the poem takes the reader through his walk home from class and his thought process about “who he is”, the final line of the poem, “This is my page for English B” suggests that this poem is the paper he has written for class. Langston Hughes wrote this poem during the Harlem Renaissance of the late 1910s, so a reader might immediately assume that the main topic involves race or racial prejudice. The second stanza almost takes this direction when the narrator mentions that he is “the only colored student in his class”, the third stanza changes directions, though, when the narrator, addressing his white instructor, says, “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races”. This suggests that he is not, because he is black, different than others, but rather, the same. This line seems pretty simple at first, but when you think about it, it's got a few layers to it.
This poem also appears to be a critique and statement on poetry. When Hughes states, “And let that page come out of you then, it will be true,” he lays his philosophy on poetry out for all to see. Poetry does not need to have any specific agenda or special qualifications; as long as the author of a poem believes in the words they have written down, all other considerations are moot.
The narrator poses a rhetorical question as to whether the page that he would fill in