...In the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes and in the novel I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the mothers are both showing their children how to live a successful and to preserve in the hard time in life you may go through. The mom states in the poem , “So boy don't you turn back. / Don't you set down on the steps.” (10-11) This is one of the lines in the poem from the mother talking to the son. She doesn't want the son to give up. He shouldn't turn back just because he hit rock bottom. The son should always persevere in the tough times. According to the mother in the poem “Don't you fall now- / For I’se still goin’, honey, / I’se still climbin’ (13-14). in other words, this mother doesn't want her son to give up. She is still climbing through the struggle....
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...This segways us into our topic, I was assigned to analyze the three pieces of text, the text I chose were “The Lost Boys”, “Mother To Son”, and The Fifth One. Stories...
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...Prof. Sun English 1102 “Mother to Son” Langston Hughes Langston Hughes' moving poem "Mother to Son" empowers not only the son, but also the reader with precious words of wisdom. Through the skillful use of literary devices such as informal language, symbolism, metaphors, repetition, as well as clever use of format, Hughes manages to assemble up the image of a mother lovingly, yet firmly, talking to her son about life. This poem is an advice from a mother to son about life that will be challenging and do not think about giving it up. Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He published his first poem in 1921. He attended Columbia University, but left after one year to travel. His poetry was later promoted by Vachel Lindsay, and Hughes published his first book in 1926. He went on to write countless works of poetry, prose and plays, as well as a popular column for the Chicago Defender. He died on May 22, 1967. The theme that this poet conveyed in the poem is determination to live without ever thinking giving up although the obstacles are harsh. Besides, it also emphasize regarding the struggle for life that the one will experience but still have the strength to face it day by day. It also shows about affection and as motivation of a mother to son that takes care of his son and gives advice so that the son will somehow be prepared to face the life. The poem consists of four stanzas. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his position. He has...
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...The Negro Speaks of Rivers “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by poet Langston Hughes indeed spoke of rivers, but those rivers were a metaphor for a deeper subject. The poem is about the relevance of the rivers throughout African American history. At age seventeen Langston Hughes decided he was going to be a poet. He wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” on an envelope in 1920 while traveling by train across The Mississippi River to visit his father in Mexico. The poem was published in June of the following year in The Crisis, a magazine popular in African American life. The poem’s beginning: "I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins" is a representation of water being older than humanity. The line: “My soul has grown deep like the rivers" shows the connection of Hughes to his race. The line: "I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset" expresses the connection of the rivers to African American history, and how Abraham Lincoln worked to put an end to slavery in the United States. The poem's ending: "I’ve known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers" again shows the rivers effect on African American history throughout the years...
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...In Langston Hughes poems we see the use of free verse, open structure, in which Hughes gets his poems across in a more casual manner unlike other poets like Robert Frost whose use of rhythm and structure are present in every line. Hughes style of writing is focused on the way people of his time spoke and he expresses that in every poem where he tells a story in conversational manner. The poems that I chose by Hughes describe the history, the struggle, the future of African Americans with his use of imagery to convey optimism and give hope to the human spirit. Langston Hughes creates not only a poem but a live picture of the history of his people like in the poem “Negro” where he describes himself as “Black like the depths of my Africa” (3). Here he states cultural identity of his people and the pride of being black. One of the most consistent things that we see in Hughes poetry is his use of things that are in motion like: rivers, stairs, and roads to describe things, or people that change. In his poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” the use of rivers is used to describe the passing of time, “I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the / flow of human blood in human veins” (2-3). Hughes word choice in every poem is essential to convey optimism of the human spirit even when he begins to describe the struggles that are faced with, they still have hope. We see this in the poem “Mother to Son” where we see a mother talking to her son and describing her painful life but...
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...William Ernest Henley and “Mother to son” by Langston Hughes both share the lesson that success is one's own decision. Through “Invictus,” William Ernest Henley portrays that success lies in one's own decisions. He does this through the use of diction the theme is expressed by using words that show that he is very brave and has an unbreakable will to succeed. This is shown in the quote, “And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.” (Henley 11-12). This device is used when Henley uses strong words like...
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...existence. The Harlem renaissance was know as he era of the “New Negro Movement” and was a major backyard for the different genres of music like the blues and jazz. Not only was this renaissance known for the music, but also for the amazing works of literature that were created by such as Langston Hughes. Throughout the peak of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes produced many poems that...
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...Mother to Son Analysis Langston Hughes' moving poem "Mother to Son" empowers not only the son, but also the reader with precious words of wisdom. Through the skillful use of literary devices such as informal language, symbolism, metaphors, repetition, as well as clever use of format, Hughes manages to assemble up the image of a mother lovingly, yet firmly, talking to her son about life. This poem is an advice from a mother to son about life that will be challenging and do not think about giving it up. The advice is simple but pertinent to the poetic theme: in order to overcome the hurdles of life, a person must possess courage and determination. The theme that this poet conveyed in the poem is determination to live without ever thinking giving up although the obstacles are harsh. Besides, it also emphasize regarding the struggle for life that the one will experience but still have the strength to face it day by day. It also shows about affection and as motivation of a mother to son that takes care of his son and gives advice so that the son will somehow be prepared to face the life. Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son” resemble to the well-known expression “let’s have a father to son chat”. However, in this case, the saying is altered to “mother to son”. Poetic devices such as informal language, symbolisms, metaphors and repetition were used in this poem. This poem is written from the mother’s point of view in the advice form so the audience could feel the warmth and...
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...Evolution of Langston Hughes Poetry “Life dosent frighten me at all.” -Langston Hughes Fear can be the enemy of creativity if one cannot overcome it. Some of the most well known people like John Milton and William Shakespeare overcame their past fears and learned to turn it into something they could express, like writing. Well-known Poets do not just make up poems as they go in life hoping they make it big. Most poets make poems on how they feel and what their passionate about. Langston Hughes is a great example of a writer who not only overcame his fears, but also learned how to express them through poetry. People who want to study the underlining meaning in Hughes work should first analyze what caused him to write his poems, by researching...
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...Mulatto The poem “Mulatto” by Langston Hughes is an eleven stanza publication characterized as a narrative. First published in 1926, the poem looks into the sexual activity between people from diverse races who are unmarried, and the outcome of such unions. The poem touches on the issue of the resultant offspring who are children of mixed races, then commonly referred to as mulattos. Born to a white father and a black mother, Langston Hughes qualifies as the best candidate to discuss issues involving race, and bi racial offspring which he does to perfection in this poem (Gates29) Langston gets burdened with the attitude towards his own identity and race. This poem got inspired by the writers lack of racial identity. Some of his works including Mulatto get considered explicit and harsh in nature. However, they bring out his own feelings and experiences as a mulatto, for readers to know about the hard time he had growing up Gates 42). In the poem Mulatto, Hughes refers to himself as a mulatto and at times as a black man too. The poem employs the use of more than a single voice, which keeps interrupting each other. The poem gets broken down into three distinct voice parts that are the son, father and a third voice thought to be the brother. Mulatto contains dramatic dialogue, which brings out the conflict that exists between son and father. The conflict gets worsened by the scorn and vigor expressed in the choice of words, heightened by well put, suggestive intricacies from...
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...20th 2013 Mulatto: A Play Portraying Life In The South In his two act play Mulatto, Hughes portraits the life of southern blacks in the 1930’s and their struggle to be acknowledged as equals. The play describes a white man torn between two worlds; a black woman suffering, like any mother would, over the misbehavior of her child, and finally a black man in the quest for acknowledgement. And the series of events that lead to the death of the two men. It shows specially the struggle of a young man in the middle of a clash of two ethnic groups. We can also see Hughes reflected in his character Robert. As the play starts the first character we find is the white plantation owner, Mr. Norwood. Norwood is the father of five children, William, Sallie, Robert, John, and Bertha who he has with his mistress Cora Lewis. He is torn between the not so evident love for his children and the pressure of society. As we hear him speaking to Cora we see he does love his children but also has to be strict with them, especially with Robert. Norwood points this out in his speech to Cora: Cora, if you want that hardheaded yellow son of yours to get along around here, he’d better listen to me. He’s no more than any other black buck on this plantation. How’s Talbot going to keep the rest of those darkies working right if that boy’s allowed to set that kind of an example? Just because Bert’s your son, and I’ve been damn fool enough to send him off t school for five or six years, he...
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...did not block Langston Hughes’ career, and he earned his applause and approval by his consummate writings. Joplin, Missouri is the place where Carrie Langston born down Langston Hughes in 1902. Before his twelve birthday he had lived in six different American cities. Before he published his first book, he had already experienced all kinds of jobs, and traveled to many countries (“Langston Hughes” Poetry Foundation)....
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...English 101 1DB Essay 3 November 4, 2013 Struggles of a Single Mother The struggles of a single mother are insurmountable. In the poem “ Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes writes prolifically about his mothers struggle. Tupac in his music video Dear Mama presents another strong argument on the struggles of a single mother. Both of these works deal with the struggles their mothers went through. However they present a different argument when it comes to the source of the struggle. Hughes poem doesn’t identify what exactly caused the struggle but it is reasonable to assume it was external circumstance. Tupac on the other hand repeatedly identifies himself as the cause of the struggle. Thus the arguments diverge. One argument deals with the struggle caused by external circumstances while another deals with the struggle of single motherhood caused by the children. I feel that the argument Tupac presents in his video is a more realistic and persuasive argument for singe motherhood. In the video “Dear Mama” Tupac uses his lyrics to tell the story behind the video. He uses realism in the lyrics as well as in the video. When the video opens up Tupac’s mother speaks about being seventeen, pregnant, and in jail. After she speaks, Tupac opens up the song by saying that his mother had nowhere to stay at seventeen once she was released from jail. The combination of the words of Tupac’s mother and Tupac himself creates a strong emotional appeal to the audience. This combination of...
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...Langston Hughes: Poet, Activist, Playwright, and Influencer Langston Hughes, a strong contributor to the Harlem Renaissance, was immensely influenced by poets and activists who led him to become one of the most influential poets. During his childhood, Hughes moved from several states within in the South. His upbringing was unstable. In the beginning of his life, his father, nor mother was able to take care of him. As a result, he lived with his grandmother from the age of one to eleven. His grandmother was a lover of activism, and raised Hughes not only with a love of activism, but a sense of racial pride. These beliefs played themes in all of Hughes’ work. In fact, his audience claimed to admire most the pride he felt for his African-American...
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...The Mother’s Staircase One way in which Hughes characterizes and gives life to the poem is through use of diction. The poem is written from the standpoint of a mother speaking to her son, and the selection of her words is vital to her characterization. Specifically, it is believed that this poem mirrors the life of his own mother who was born “only a generation away from slavery” and faced much civil injustice (Reyes 267). The vernacular the mother in the story uses accents the social status of her time period. Removing the “g” from the endings of multiple words and using slang words, such as “ain’t” and “I’se” gives us an authentic feel for a struggling, poverty-stricken black woman who would not have access to much, if any, formal education in the era during which the poem was written (Hughes 23). Much of Hughes’ writing revolves around the tribulations facing the African American community over the years. This poem is a prime example in which a simple choice of words can make all the difference in a poem’s meaning. If written in proper English, the poem would feel contrived, stripped of the earnestness of its subject matter. Also, the mother’s use of first person when telling her personal history implies that she is a single mother doing her best to raise her child alone. At no time, does she use the third person, which one would expect from someone married or in a relationship dedicated to keeping a family together. This helps illuminate an underlying theme of...
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