Dreams are tools that can help people change their world in a positive or negative way. Hughes says‚ “Or does it explode?” (Hughes 11)‚ just like the first line of the poem‚ this final line is a question directed to the reader making another connection. Unlike the rest of the lines in the poem‚ this one is italicized making the reader pay more attention to it and gives it more meaning. Hughes uses the word “explode” in a way that it can be seen as both a harmful and a peaceful way‚ but is determined
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Dreams was written during the time of the Harlem Renaissance‚ by Langston Hughes. The poem maybe only 2 stanzas short‚ but Hughes was able to demonstrate the meaning behind the content. The main idea of the poem is dreams‚ but has no physical limitations. Hughes could mean hope‚ faith‚ or family‚ but it depends how the readers interpret it. During the period of the Harlem Renaissance‚ “Dreams” was most certainly important because Hughes was a black writer that wrote about the hardships they were
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the author James Langston Hughes was born in Joplin‚ Missouri. He was an accomplished African American poet‚ novelist‚ columnist‚ playwright‚ memoirist‚ and author of short stories. During this time period in the United States‚ African Americans were not treated equally and segregated based on race. When Hughes and his mother moved to Topeka‚ Kansas‚ Langston attended an all-white school near his house instead of an all-black school that was a distance away (Jerison). Langston proved to his peers
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“Cross” by Langston Hughes “I wonder where I’m gonna die‚ / Being neither white nor black?” (11-12) These are the last two lines of “Cross” a poem by Langston Hughes that describes the experience of a mixed-race person. The poem is written in stanzas with a rhyme scheme of ABCB. The speaker expresses the frustration and grief that a half-black and half-white person has and the struggles to accept and understand their ethnic identity‚ offering stereotype in a world where black people and white people
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English 1 1 April 2012 Langston Hughes’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Langston Hughes was born February 1st‚ 1902 in Joplin‚ Missouri. Lynching was a growing problem where he lived growing up. His parents divorced when he was young and racism made Hughes’s father leave the country for Mexico while his mom traveled from city to city looking for work as a journalist and stenographer. Langston Hughes went to high school in Cleveland‚ Ohio where he started writing poetry‚ short stories‚ and plays
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The poem “Let America Be America Again” was written by the African-American poet Langston Hughes in 1935‚ and has become relevant again today under the Trump Administration. He starts his poem by explaining how he wants “America be America again”‚ bringing similarities to mind with Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America great again”. However‚ Hughes meant this ironically‚ as after the first stanza he writes “(America never was America to me.)” The “America before” he writes about‚ was a country of
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In the poem ‘Oppression’‚ by Langston Hughes‚ he deeply outlines his thoughts and feelings while experiencing oppression first-hand. Being raised in poverty without the support of his parents‚ Langston Hughes expresses his wish of liberation from racism through this poem. Langston Hughes views oppression as something you can break free from by emancipation and not by something that holds you back. Langston Hughes first expressed his oppressive thoughts when he began his poem by saying‚ “Now dreams
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written by Langston Hughes we find a young boy brought up to believe that he would see a light when he was saved. During a church revival meeting the minister asks all the young unproclaimed to come forward and be saved and one by one they all went to the altar claiming to be saved. All except for the narrator who was still waiting to literally see a light indicating that he too had seen Jesus. However‚ while he waited the entire church congregation kept pressuring him to be saved. Langston notices
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In the poem “Scottsboro‚” Hughes talks about Christ and Gandhi because they were both important figures that stood up for what they believed in just as the Scottsboro boys did. Christ died on the cross for everybody’s sins. He had a lot of people that did not believe in him and wanted him dead. Gandhi preached about wanting peace and how he wanted the violence to end. He had a lot of people that supported him and a lot of people who didn’t. He had his life taken from him by somebody that did not
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In the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes‚ he proclaims his thoughts for rights of equality during the Civil Rights Movement. He expresses his frustration for racism that he has had to overcome throughout his life. In the poem‚ Hughes states "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load." This line is his opinion of how‚ during the Civil Rights Movement‚ racism and equality are put to the base of the agenda list but at the peak of every mind. The lines give the image of sagging breasts due to lack of support
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