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--Langston Hughes
About Poet:
Famous Work:
Poetry
The Weary Blues, 1926
Fine Clothes to the Jew, 1927
The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations, 1931
Novels and short story collections
Not Without Laughter, 1930
The Ways of White Folks, 1934
Simple Speaks His Mind, 1950
Laughing to Keep from Crying, 1952
About Poem:
“As I Grew Older”, by Langston Hughes carries a theme that no matter what
stands in the way of someone’s dream you can always find your dream and
fight for it. As a child, he was unaware of the cruelty of the world and in his
innocent optimism, dared to dream of achieving great things. Throughout
the poem, Hughes refers to different symbols to show the barriers between
blacks and whites in society. The poem was published in his collections of
poems, The Weary Blue
Analysis by Poem:
In the first stanza of this poem, Hughes writes that his dream was in front of
him, bright like a sun. Hughes’s dream was the dream of a non-racist society
in America and the freedom for anyone to do, what they choose and be
treated equally. At the same time, Hughes’s dream can also be treated as
Hughes’s future. Hughes’s dream first appeared to be “bright like the sun”
because when one is a child, one would not be aware of what is actually
happens around. Children do not know the true reasons for why the society
is the way that it is and Hughes’s did not understand either. Hughes’s dream
was bright because he was not old enough to realize that there would be
things in his way keeping him from his dream. In addition, it is important to
note that Hughes’s says “My dream” to show possession of the idea he holds.
In the third stanza, Hughes writes that the wall rose until it touched the sky.
There are many elements in the stanza that illustrates Hughes’s place in
society at that time and the extent of racism. The reader should notice that
Hughes writes that the wall rose up to the sky in a single line. Nonetheless,
he breaks up the words in the following lines, to act as if the action was
taking place with the words. Firstly, Hughes describes what is moving up
and he writes on a single line, “The Wall”. Then Hughes continues to
describe, what happens when the wall is in place and that is “Shadow”. In the
third single line, Hughes confirms (if not already known), “I am black.” A
single line with, “I lie down in the shadow” then follows this simple
description. “The Wall”, which Hughes describes, is a symbol of the white
people, who were racist. This wall casts a “shadow” over Hughes and this
shadow represents the restrictions and laws that were made in
discrimination against black people.
In the last stanza, the word “Shatter” adds more emphasis to Hughes
description of how African Americans would prevail through civil rights and
by breaking the shadow into a thousand lights of the sun. The blacks are
breaking the restrictions cast by white people and making society equal as a
whole. The darkness is the shadow that was created by the wall that grew
taller and taller. Hughes would be able to break the darkness and let the
light in, through the wall.
Figurative language: