Essay on Hughes ‘I too sing America’

1. Essay on Hughes ‘I too sing America’

2. Choose a poem which reflects on an aspect of human behaviour in such a way as to deepen your understanding of human nature. Describe the aspect of human behaviour which you have identified and show how the poet’s use of ideas and techniques brought you to a deeper understanding of human nature. Choose a poem which deals with an aspect of the less pleasant side of life. Show how the poem increases your knowledge and understanding of the aspect of life dealt with, and how the use of poetic technique contributes to the impact the poem had on you. Choose a poem where the poet starts off by describing an everyday happening or incident and then goes on to make a deeper or more serious point about human nature by the end of the poem. Briefly describe the starting point of the poem and state what you think is the serious point made by the end. Now go on to show how the poet’s use of poetic techniques deepens your understanding of the poem.

3. What do we need • POETIC for notes/outline • Select a couple of points for PEE with evidence • Draft outline format • Intro – author title refer to question • Main body – tell them • Conclusion – did author achieve aim? Answer the question – tell them what you’ve told them • Give your opinion

4. Choose a poem which deals with an aspect of the less pleasant side of life. Intro A poem which deals with an aspect of the less pleasant side of life is Langston Hughes's poem about racism ‘I too, sing America’ which was a reaction to Walt Whitman’s previously published piece ‘I hear America singing’ which told of the pride Whitman felt in his native land. This pride was not shared by Hughes who points out in his poem that Whitman’s American singers did not include Negros and other ethnic minorities and that they were still subject to racism and often murderous discrimination some 40 years after Whitman’s death. I will examine how Hughes displays this unpleasant aspect of American life....

5. Purpose This poem seeks to show that racism at the time it was written was still the normal state of affairs for America, particularly in the Deep South with its regular lynchings by the Klu Klux Klan and that, for Negroes, life was indeed harsh.

6. Organisation The poem consists of three verses of unequal length that are framed at the top and bottom by a single line. At the beginning it is ‘I too, sing America’ whereas by the end it has become ‘I too am America’ This change of one word is significant as it shows the transformation in attitude and tone of the poem as it looks forward to a better future where ALL, black and white will be Americans.

7. Emotive tone At the start of this poem, the tone is a mix of sadness and sarcasm as the author reveals how he is treated by his employers. He is not a slave but is still, 70 years after the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, treated like one. He shows how he is treated but the tone changes halfway through as he expresses his belief that in a future ‘Tomorrow’ he WILL be treated as an equal either because he has become strong and fought for his rights or because the whites have become ashamed of their behaviour and unchristian attitudes. Thus the tone become hopeful rather than despairing.

8. Techniques Techniques used within the poem include metaphor, where ‘Tomorrow’ represents a future time, perhaps near or more likely, far in the future, even decades away when all men regardless of colour will be equal. The tone and word choice highlight the way the narrator expresses his despair at his current situation but also shows his hopes for the future. He says he will ‘eat well’ and become ‘strong’ rather than fight now but wait until he is stronger either physically or morally and able to fight for equality.

9. ‘I’ is used to signify the narrator, the Negro, the ‘darker brother’ who is perhaps symbolic of darkness and thus evil, which is why he is treated thus, and is also sarcastic since he is clearly not a brother, or treated like one. To show the social divide at the time he uses ‘They’ to describe his masters. This neutral word does not offer any respect for his so called superiors; they are simply ‘they’. Individual words

10. Contrast There are two main points of contrast within this short poem. Firstly there is an obvious physical and racial contrast between the narrator and his master, one black the other white and the different way they are treated in front of visitors. One is hidden away, the other welcomed as part of the ‘company’ at the table where discussion, laughter and conversation will ensue. The other contrast is in the way the narrator shows the contrast between the way he is treated now and how he believes he will be treated in the future. A minor contrast is the implied fight between good and evil, light and dark bit in this case dark is good and light is evil because of the way the darker brother’ is treated; the opposite of the Christian ethos where all are equal before the Lord.