Theme For English B Analysis

The instructor said,

    Go home and write
    a page tonight.
    And let that page come out of you--
    Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

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I believe that this poem shows a student in college tryin to show that everyone is equal n simular in all types aways, n that color is just a small factor. We have the same wants, needs, n desires.

| Posted on 2009-11-12 | by a guest

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i really commend langston hughes for writing this poem with such honesty. He is able to expose the sheer, raw emotion that a black student feels due to his "otherness" from his white classmates. I love this poem and it makes you think about how some "assignments" are really life assignments.

| Posted on 2009-10-04 | by a guest

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I feel that this poem is not meant to offend in any way...but rather you see a young black man's struggle to assimilate into American culture and still keep his identity of blackness...this is apparent during his daily ascent and descent from Harlem...at the end he comes to the realization that we all have so many more similarities than we care to realize...we all desire the same creature comforts in life and no one is ever really free... quite a liberating poem!!!

| Posted on 2009-08-31 | by a guest

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i dont understand this poem!!!! can someone help me i need this for a english project

| Posted on 2009-08-29 | by a guest

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I think this poem illustrates the DISCURSIVE learning exchange between the speaker (presumably Hughes) and his instructor. The poem itself does not strive to depict a hierarchical dialect ie) teacher/student or master/slave, rather a convergence of two separate ideas via art. Timelessly profound and beautiful.

| Posted on 2009-07-17 | by a guest

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This poem is libratering toward all groups and races of people. It showed that just because were all different colors, we can stil learn from each other and see different views on the same subjects..I love this poem!! Equal freedom for all.

| Posted on 2009-06-07 | by a guest

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This poem is about a young African American man in an all white class, with a white professor, and the young man is the only one from the south. The assignment is what's at issue. Should he write what he is, which is a black man's point of view, or what he thinks the professor wants? The page that 'comes out' of him must be black because that's what he is, but can the professor understand that?

| Posted on 2009-05-07 | by a guest

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i dont know why anyone would be offended by this poem. its about a black student rising above expectations and triumphing. at first he assocaites himself as a loner, but as the poem develops, he begins to talk in terms like "we" and "us". it was also written in the civil rights era im pretty sure and so you should take that into account when you read the poe,. langston hughes is trying to help the movement along with this work.

| Posted on 2009-03-29 | by a guest

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well i think this poem is super super x yeah its good

| Posted on 2009-03-19 | by a guest

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this poem speaks of originality
of breaking racial backgrounds
of each individual's perception of the truth
of the unity we share in America
of accepting no excuses and striving to proove our selves more capable than we are lured to believe sometimes.
of the follies encompassing the youth and their willingness to know, feel, guided, and told the "truth"
in life.
But this poem wants each individual to find the "truth" for himselve!...the truth lies in x

| Posted on 2009-01-30 | by a guest

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my name is Darrell Daqwan the third. I am black too. This poem speaks to me in an insulting way. I AM EQUAL NO MATTER YOU SAY POEMS CANT BRING ME DOWN OH I SAY!!!!

| Posted on 2009-01-11 | by a guest

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i dont understand this poem!!!! can someone help me i need this for a english project

| Posted on 2008-12-15 | by a guest

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I believe this is a comparison of the whites and blacks. These two groups are repeted three times each showing their equality and he is striving to reach the point where a continual flow of love in information can occur.

| Posted on 2008-04-14 | by a guest

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Hello.my name is jarrade. im black. and this poem speaks to me. i think it it about black african americas. i like it

| Posted on 2008-02-12 | by a guest