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Analysis and comments on Theme For English B by Langston Hughes

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Comment 25 of 35, added on February 1st, 2006 at 12:36 AM.

It is not exactly about racism, but the point that he is trying to make is
that we all are apart of each other whether or not we want to be.
His teacher feels as if he should feel grateful for being able to attend an
all white college. Then he has to write a paper and then all of his
feelings burst out, with that he gets on the fact that he has to write on a
white piece of paper, for a white teacher, and whatnot. So whatever ethnic
background we come from, eventually we all have the ability to melt
together....The End.

Ashley from United States
Comment 24 of 35, added on December 27th, 2005 at 4:42 PM.

I'm using this poem for a Speech Tournament. I'm compiling this with Let
America be America and Democracy. I hope it will be good, i really want to
win a medal.

elf902 from United States
Comment 23 of 35, added on December 2nd, 2005 at 11:28 PM.

Upon analyzing this poem this is what I have come up with:

Langston Hughes uses EDUCATION as a device that highlights other important
factors that can be looked over quite easily.

To begin with, this poem is not merely just about race, but about class
relations, the inequity within the educational system, and the distortion
of North American History (I despise the context to which the term
"American" is used. My Mexican father and Salvadoran mother are BOTH
AMERICAN because they were BORN and LIVE in the Americas. Whether or not
they had chosen to immigrate to the USA, they would have been Americans
nonetheless. Even then, North America encompasses Canada, the USA, and
Mexico, so using "North American" is somewhat ambiguous as well)

The 22-year-old student is asked to write a page...
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple.

A black man who can freely express himself during this time (even now if I
dare say) To speak about the problems that plague his community to a white
professor without being ostracized? Not quite the piece of cake now is it?
From that moment forward, the poem is meticulously written so as to
incorporate all off his ideas, and some would not even notice.

Great poem.


Veronica Ochoa from United States
Comment 22 of 35, added on November 30th, 2005 at 10:35 AM.

I was enamered by the poem and the context of the poem. I love this poem I
am doing a research paper on it currently and I am having a ball dtermining
what others have thought about this great poem


Kimberly from United States
Comment 21 of 35, added on November 23rd, 2005 at 9:49 AM.

I agree with many when said they love Langston Hughes. he has a way of
telling a short meaninless story and giving it meaning and depth. This poem
is one of my favorites!

Stephanie from United States
Comment 20 of 35, added on November 9th, 2005 at 11:13 PM.

I knew this poem when i prepared for the application to U of Chicago. It's
in the essay topic options. I think he was only trying to make a
self-introduction, and trying to neglect his race by emphasizing it

Yoyo from China
Comment 19 of 35, added on October 30th, 2005 at 8:02 PM.

i don't get this poem.....i mean im reading it for my english class (we
have to write a paper on it) and we discussed it several times and i just
don't get it. i know they areen't talking about racism, but it looks like
that to me becauase they are talking about colored and white people. i
think some of his poems are kind of confusing and i don't get them. im not
a big fan of his, but i read some of his poems through junior high, and
freshman year at highschool. i just wanted to say that

cathy a. from United States
Comment 18 of 35, added on October 27th, 2005 at 8:00 PM.

I like his poems, they are deep and nice. At first I thought it was about
racism, but when I read it a couple of times it wasn't. It actually talked
about himeself as a twenty-two year old and the only Africian American in
the college he went to. i decided to post a commment on here because I'm
doing a reading response on it for English.

candii from United States
Comment 17 of 35, added on October 12th, 2005 at 8:02 PM.

I don't think the poem is about equality at all. Langston Hughes was a
strong advocate of being a "Black-poet" and wanted his African-American
peers to stop writing as if they are white.

"So will my oage be colored that I write? Being me, it will not be white."

His essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" is all about this
topic. I feel the poem is more about pride than equality. Just because
there is the word "free" near the end doesn't mean its the focus of the
poem.

Paul from United States
Comment 16 of 35, added on October 11th, 2005 at 11:11 AM.

I like this poem because it's like he's trying to express his humanity.
Sometimes I feel bad because it feels like people see me as a woman before
they see me as a human. I think before I am a woman, I have a mind, I have
a lust for life and an appreciation for my life, and I have all the basic
feelings as any human does. Thus, one should treat me equal as a human
because I think and feel the same way as any one else. I think he's saying
the same thing except that he's a human before he is a black man.

Helen from United States

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Information about Theme For English B

Poet: Langston Hughes
Poem: Theme For English B
Added: Feb 20 2003
Viewed: 49333 times


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