What does it take to be an American citizen? Some might say taking pride in your country or following laws is what makes an American citizen. But in the two poems “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman and “I, too” by Langston Hughes, the author’s describe what it means to be an American citizen. Whitman and Hughes both describe the life of an American. But they use different techniques to convey their message. They use different structures to their poems to imply different peoples life. Whitman paints a picture of the “American Dream” while Hughes tells the story of an African American citizen explaining how they are also a part of America. Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes both convey a message about being an American citizen, but with different …show more content…
In Whitman's poem, the stanzas are structured with rigidity, each stanza having a line followed by a intended line as a continuation of the line above. While Hughes’ poem has very short line and two bigger stanzas. There is less organization of line length and stanza length is Hughes’ poem than in Whitman's poem. The figurative language used in these poems are different as well. Whitman personifies America by saying, “I hear America singing” implying that he hears america's people singing together as they work (Whitman 1). In Hughes’ poem, he alludes to Whitman’s poem by saying, “I, too, sing America.” (Hughes 1). Hughes’ allusion expresses the author's message of racism. Langston Hughes, being African American uses this allusion to tell reader's how the America that Whitman paints isn’t the true America. The true America contains African Americans living in peace with all races. The main idea of Hughes poem is the author voicing his frustrations about racism. Hughes also implies that America includes everyone, race doesn’t matter. These two authors use different techniques to express the idea of an American
In "Langston Hughes and the "Other" Whitman", George Hutchinson summarizes the similarities between Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Although Walt Whitman wrote during the American Antebellum Era and Hughes wrote during the Harlem Renaissance, both used their works to advocate for African Americans. Hughes greatly admired Whitman and felt that he had been ignored and underappreciated as a writer. Hughes’ admiration and respect for Whitman allowed him to develop his own unique style of writing and encouraged him to be a voice for those living in Harlem. Analyzing Whitman’s poetry enabled Hughes to find ways to incorporate aspects of Jazz and Blues into his poetry. Whitman and Hughes both integrated their opinions into their poetry and used
A poem by E.E. Cummings and Langston Hughes appeared to share some similarities. The poems are “i sing of Olaf glad and big” and “I, Too” and both are closely related to Walt Whitman’s, Song of Myself. Whitman wrote a long poem celebrating himself. Cummings writes about how war is considered good, but Olaf feels very opinionated about the topic. Cummings express his opinions through this character, "i sing of Olaf glad and big/ whose warmest heart recoiled at war"(1-2). Cummings informs the reader that Olaf recoils at the topic of war which indicates that Cummings too dislikes war. Hughes poem expresses his thoughts about the topic of racism. In the poem hughes says, “I, too, sing America”(1), which goes along with the title of Cummings poem. Both authors talked about touchy subjects around their time period. I think both brought back the whole idea of Whitman’s “Song of myself” of being out of society’s norms of keeping opinions to oneself.
This poem is often compared to Walt Whitman’s I Hear America Singing because of the similarities of the two poems. In this poem, Hughes argues that the African American race is equal to whites. Hughes even declares that one day the African American race will be equal to whites. Hughes proclaims, “Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed-I, too, am America.” Hughes was very bold and daring when he wrote these lines in this poem. He is implying that the white people will regret what they have done to blacks. That they will be ashamed of how they treated them. Undoubtedly, this poem expresses Hughes cultural identity.
Whitman’s poem was written in the mid-1800s during the industrial revolution, but Hughes’ poem was written in the 1900s during the Civil Rights Movement. This is important because the Civil Rights Movement established the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Industrial Revolution moved at a slow place but there were still issues with slavery. Whitman’s poem was free verse while Hughes’ poem was traditional rhyme/rhythm. The tone of Whitman’s poem was patriotic and celebratory (I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear); because he was paying tribute to the success of the individuals; however, the tone of Hughes’ poem was sarcastic and frustrated (to build a “homeland of the free,’’ because he didn’t feel like some individuals were allowed to experience the American Dream. Whitman’s theme of his poem was that individuals and liberties make America great. On the other hand, Hughes’ theme of his poem expressed that individuals felt excluded from the “homeland of the free.” The purpose of Whitman’s poem is praise for universal brotherhood. However, Hughes’ poem’s purpose was to inform individuals about inequality, meaning that not everyone has the same liberties in America. Whitman’s poem focused on the jobs of the workers, while Hughes’ poem focused on race, social status, and a list to represent the “I am’’ phrase; (I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars). He also
Each phrases has its own significant meaning. They are both making it a point that even though they may be of color they are just as important in their own way. Hughes poem focus’ more on the future as he states; "Nobody 'll dare/ Say to me, 'Eat in the kitchen, '" the speaker seems eager to see what the future holds him/her. Whitman tends to maintain the present, declaring, “I, too, am America” The speaker believes that the injustice that is upon him is wrong and that he too should be treated as a human. The speaker also believes that color should not be a reason for him not being considered as an American. But, unlike Hughes speaker, is quieter about the fact other than standing up for
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
...tatement the speaker explains to the instructor “you are white, yet a part of me as I am a part of you, that’s American’’ (30-33). Both Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen deliver a clear message that no matter what age or race you are, we are all equal, and although these were two different experiences the core to both was racism. These themes show that they have a common topic. Cullens poem contains a rhyme scheme of a,b,c,b; while Hughes has chosen to write in free verse. ‘’Incident’’ and ‘’Theme for English B’’ are both written in first person, using pronouns such as “I.” These poems have similar characteristic within their themes, and structures but they still carry their own unique details. Whether it’s more than a difference in a topic, or even just changing the way that the poem is set up; you can find differences in poems no matter how similar they may seem.
Langston Hughes expresses his poems with the connection of jazz blues music and African Americans expressing themselves by dancing and following the beat to the music rhythm describing flashbacks of the past and comparing them to present day using imagery, figurative language describing and punctuation, which makes the reader think about African Americans in the past and how they are treated different today.
In, “ I Hear America Singing”, Walt Whitman uses alliteration, literal imagery, and tone to express the idea that there are many individual, hardworking workers in this country, but as a whole these people carry out the American pride. America does not only consist of one person, but it is the whole population that makes what America is today. This country is filled with fun and laughter for everyone to enjoy!
Another analysis of Hughes wishing America to be America again is when he refered to himself in the fifth stanza , line one, two and three; "Negro bearing slavery scars, red man driven from the land, and the immigrant clutching hope I seek--". Tracing back to history on how everything began, Hughes refrenced slavery...
Whitman’s approach to poetry is a reflection of his thought. These thoughts are free and wild, and his typical run-on sentences and his endless litanies of people and places represent the thoughts trying to be conveyed. The overall effect of these run-on sentences provides the reader with a feeling of greatness and of freedom. All of the feelings that are evoked from Whitman’s style can be classified as quintessentially American democratic feelings. The belief that Whitman had no style would imply that Americans as a society have no style, a statement that not only Whitman but Emerson and Thoreau as well fought against through their writings. Whitman and Emerson fighting for the same cause is not coincidental, Whitman has often been viewed as the “child” of Emerson, his work being greatly influenced by Emerson. Whitman’s technique of looking at everything as a whole and always opposed to breaking up the whole can be linked to his belief of unity within our country and the reason why he took the Civil War extremely hard and personal.
In 1920, Langston Hughes became the voice of black America. He was the inspirational voice of the African-Americans, the hope and motivation of many. Langston wrote about freedom of creative expression, about ordinary people leading ordinary lives, politics, America, dreams, equality and inequality. No surprise was created when his poem: “I, Too, Sing America” was about a black man wish and hopes to live a life with equality. This poem conveys the fact that despite the differences of color, all people living in America are Americans and have the right to be treated equally. Langston’s poem “I, Too, Sing America” illustrates the hope of equality, ambition and freedom of an oppressed person.
Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes one white and one black wanting to show how they both went through bad times and good times but saw a different side of life. Walt Whitman the father of free verse, Langston Hughes the voice of the Harlem renaissance were both creative with their poetry. The poems these men created show two different sides of the way they looked at america. Even though they had similarities and difference between the races of the poets “ i hear america singing” and “let america be america again” their perspective were different. Walt Whitman being a white man, made him see america as this wonderful place; with Langston Hughes being black, he was treated differently because of his race, therefore he saw america as a cruel place.
Walt Whitman’s (Modern American Poetry) biography reveals that he loves ferries and that an experience of his lifetime occurred when he went on one which inspired him to write a poem about it. Another example of how Whitman’s life influences his poetry writing is when he goes to visit his grandparents at Long Island which was his favorite boyhood activity he developed a sense of love for the Long Island shore which then led to him creating his poem called “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” this is when he felt that he wanted to be a poet. Langston Hughes’s (Wikipedia) biography reveals that throughout his life he faced many problems such as racial stereotypes however this didn’t bring him down instead it lead him to write some of the most powerful poems. Another example of how Langston Hughes’s life influences his poetry writing was when he was being raised by his maternal grandmother who always established in her grandson racial pride. In his autobiography The Big Sea he stated, “I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother.
The glamorization of American opportunity created a great sense of nationalism which encouraged many to embrace ideas like manifest destiny. Walt Whitman was a poet living in the nineteenth century who wrote many poems which figuratively painted a picture portraying enrichment and opportunity in America, and the greater opportunity which could be achieved through traveling west. One compilation of poems entitled Leaves of Grass, was quite influential to those living in America and abroad, catching the eye of many opportunists seeking a better future for themselves. While the stories may be different, a common theme of American nationality exists within the poetry of Walter Whitman’s Leaves of