Time and Place in Langston Hughes' Poetry

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In many different ways, the time periods affects us all. In Langston Hughes poem’s Dreams, My People and Oppression all the themes are based on the time period and the surrounding events. In the poem Dreams he expresses that we need to hold onto our dreams. In My People he expresses his love and appreciation for his people. Lastly, in the poem Oppression he expresses the sorrow and pain of African Americans. By analyzing the themes, tone and figurative language of these poems the reader will be able to see that time periods and there surrounding events affects people in everything they do.

Langston Hughes’ poem Dream is a poem based on holding onto one’s dream. The speaker of this poem is trying to convey a message to the reader that will inspire them to hold onto what they believe in, because if they don’t, "Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly (Hughes, 3-4)." This in other words means, life will be worthless and pointless. If you give up on everything that can help you succeed or encourage you to make it to the next day, why are you living? The tone of this poem is inspirational and hopeful. For example, by the speaker is telling us how we will feel in advance to us giving up our dreams, it encourages the reader to hold on to their dreams, hope and aspiration.

There are many examples of figurative language associated with this poem, metaphors being one of them. For, example Hughes says "life is a barren field frozen with snow tone (Hughes 7).” In this stanza the speaker is comparing life itself to a frozen barren field. Another element of this poem is the theme. This poem teaches us we should hold onto our dreams forever.

My People is a poem about the speaker being proud of his people. His people are h...

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... reactions of black America during the 1920’s-1960.

Langston Hughes is one of the writers affected by events that happened during a certain time frame. As represented in this essay you can see that biological events affect writers and what they write about. Even to this day time affects the way we think, act and write. It influences everything we about us. For example, when 911 happened many people wrote about what was going on, and how people felt. They even drew pictures and murals as dedication and respect for they lives lost. In Dream andOppression the affects were from negative things going on during that time, on the other hand My Peoplehas a positive outlook. Even though the poems were written during different times, they still were influenced by the time period, So you see no matter how little or big things are they impact us all socially.

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