Analysis Worksheet
19th Century Poet: Paul Dunbar
A) Poetry Analysis Sheet: The Unlucky Apple
1. What phrases are repeated?“‘Twas an apple” is the only phrase repeated in this poem. It is said twice.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?You are visually able to see the images of a war and Eden eating an apple off the forbidden tree. And you are able to see a twinkle in a girl’s eye because Dunbar says, “she’s the apple of my eye” so I notice an infatuated look on a young mans face while noticing an attractive woman.
3. Explain metaphors.The metaphor that Dunbar uses is actually an idiom. The speaker refers to his ‘darling’ as the “apple of [his] eye”. By saying this he is, in truth addressing her as being someone that he cares for more than others.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?This isn’t a very serious poem. It is cheery and somewhat happy. The rhythm of the poem allows a more flowing structure that provides a happier tone. The rhyme also helps to make the poem more light and flow.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.In this poem the speaker is hesitating to tell his loved one that she is the apple of his eye. He is afraid of doing so because in the past apples were a thing of conflict. “’Twas The apple that in Eden caused our father’s primal fall;” he uses historical references where an apple was the unlucky culprit, and at the end of his poem his states that he is hesitant to tell his sweetheart she is the apple of his eye. This poem though is not a serious poem, it is a comic poem. So the fact that he is worried to tell his darling she is the apple of his eye because of historical events is comical and amusing.
1. What phrases are repeated?At the end of each stanza the phrase the Made to order smile is repeated. This is also the title of the poem and the main theme of the poem. So this phrase must be important when it is said at the end of each stanza.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?When the speaker describes the look of the smile you are able to see it and feel the under-cover feeling from behind it. You can feel the hatred that the woman is lacking to show. You are able to sense the aggravation and the absent-mindness involved in the poem. Though there are not many visuals you are able to feel the emotions and the expressed feelings.
3. Explain metaphors.As you breathe some pretty sentence: this means as you speak some ‘smooth’ line while trying to impress her. Her heart is full of guile: this interprets that she is truthfully not reacting in what she feels because she actually deceiving you with her craftiness while she slyly smiles. I believe that another metaphor that Paul Dunbar uses is the “made to order smile” of course it can be taken seriously as the idea that women are required to retain a sort of false smile for any who converse with them, but I believe that the smile could stand for much more than just that. The visual example he gives of the iciness within the smile shows that though women do not feel gleeful they are ‘ordered’ to smile, hence the name the Made to Order Smile. Though this could also apply to the way they behaved in society. This shows the foolish requirements and expectations of women, and how they were thought to conduct and behave.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?The rhythm and the rhyme give a sort of pattern and beat to the poem and provide a more up-tone feeling, when frankly the poem may be trying to explain more and create a deeper undertone. The poem is similar to the smile of the ordered women. It may seem nice and warm but in fact it is much deeper and different than it is seen.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.The message of the poem is that women represent themselves as gleeful beings and truthfully that is not what they may be truthfully pondering. Thought the poem may sound up-beat, it may truthfully be trying to explain more than it is considered to. Women were considered to conduct and behave in certain matters, and they were thought to be mindless smiling faces. However that was not how they felt. The poem can stand for much more than what is said. It could apply to the standards of women in society, and the way in which they were presented. You can not always judge from what you observe because things are not just black and white, they do into deeper matters and stronger meanings.
C) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Life’s Tragedy
1. What phrases are repeated?Life's Tragedy is the title of the poem and it is also said once in the poem. It is the theme and the message, so it is vital to the poem.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?There aren't very many images available in the poem, but you are able to express and feel the different emotions going on. He talks about joy and sorrow and love and singing. You are able to hear the singing, and realize how you could mess up by half a tone, but other than that, there aren't many images in this poem.
3. Explain metaphors.I believe that when he is referring to singing, he is referring to something other than just singing. But singing is a simpler way of showing how people like to sing and enjoy the opportunity too. However, if they ever did mess up they would be ashamed and prefer to not sing at all.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?The slow beat of the poem allows a more solemn tone. This helps to emphasize and drastically enhance the title. [The beat emphasizes ‘tragedy’] In this poem Dunbar exaggerates the words and examples, but he does so to imply that as humans, we do so as well with things in life.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.The message of the poem is all said in the last two lines, “we count our joys not by what we have, but by what kept us from that perfect thing.” Through out the poem he explains the little things that people natter about, and how we realize our flaws and are upset by what we don't succeed in. In the first stanza he explains the grief of not containing love at all and not singing and how tough this may be. However it would be even sadder to have had them, and done wrong with it. He is sarcastic when he is referring to the second stanza. When he says “there the potent sorrow, there the grief,” he isn't truly implying that a simple mistake in singing would be a tragedy, but he is implying that, that's how most would perceive it to be. They don't see what joy they have but rather, what kept them from becoming happier. He does the same in the third stanza. He explains how we came close to what we wanted but didn't quite get what we wanted and were unhappy with the result. When he ends the poem Dunbar seems to have a sarcastic tone and is in truth saying that no matter what we do, we are happy not because of what we have or what we succeeded in, but rather that we are unhappy because of what we didn't fully achieve.
D) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Encouraged
1. What phrases are repeated?There are no repeated lines or verses in this poem.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?I do not perceive any images from this poem. But I am able to feel what Paul Dunbar was trying to say and I can feel an emotion, but not visualize any images. The feeling of love does provoke other images to represent the feeling, but not much else.
3. Explain metaphors.There are not metaphors in this poem, but I believe that the poem its self could stand for much more than what is said. He implies that it was the love and trust from a single person that kept him moving forward and helped him to do better, but this could be implying that others do have an effect on you weather that effect can be good or bad.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?There is a beat in this poem, like all his other literary works, but instead of making the poem happier or hiding something, the poem allows a more affective and deeper feeling. The length of the poem also affects the message and allows more room to question the poem and allow more room for the words to sink in and create an effect.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.The message of the poem gives a sense of love and encouragement and that those thoughts can give a boost to someone, to allow them to be able to reach to extents. This poem reveals just what encouragement can cause. When Dunbar wrote, "Since I knew you trusted and believed, I could not disappoint you and so prevailed." This shows how much of an effect faith can have. Weather its faith you have for something or someone, or vise versa. Society is even based on faith and trust; people can base their entire existence on faith. However, Dunbar also wrote, "Had you despised me then I must have failed" so though faith can be beneficial, without trust, it is difficult to succeed.
E) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Common Things
1. What phrases are repeated?The title is common things and that phrase is said once in the poem. It is the purpose of the poem to express the value of common things so that is why it was used as the title.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?There are many times where you are able to visualize gold, money and more valuable objects. But then close to the end, the visuals change from appreciating the valuable to appreciating the simple and the small things.
3. Explain metaphors.I like for silks and satins bold to sweep and rustle through a story: this metaphor implies that wealth and gold are to be mentioned in stories. We like the man who soars and sings with high and lofty inspiration; this means that the person which has inspiration and lives with inspiration is liked by some. But he who sings of common things shall always share our admiration: this signifies that the man who speaks and lives by common things is the one who people respect and believe in.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?There is more of a slow and steady beat that makes you think a bit more while reading the poem. The beginning of the poem has a quicker beat, but it alters towards the end. In the last stanza the words are more stressed and slow the beat to allow space for the reader to think contemplate on what was said.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.This poem allows the reader to empathy the man who values the common things in life rather than dwell on the materialism of the world. Though men marvel on gold and riches, the man that is fixated on the beauty of nature is the one that people admire and appreciate. In the first two stanzas, Dunbar says that he does enjoy the recognition of ‘wealth and glory’ and the mention of heroic men. Though, in the third stanza he states that men have a way of thinking of things in which may not be as exotic, though it is those object in which it may be better to appreciate and desire. In the next stanza he contradicts the first two stanzas by stating that other men actually do appreciate the observance of the common things in life. He ends the poem by saying that though men like to acknowledge the men who uphold more, we truly do envy the one who is able to see the good in the little things rather than always reach for something that isn’t necessarily as significant.
A) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Still Here
1. What phrases are repeated?“Still here” is said in the last sentence and it is the title, and the placement of the words give it more value than realized.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?“Scared and battered” with this I am able to visualize this person being mistreated and hurt, a person being alienated for reasons unknown. “Snow has friz me, sun has baked me,” this visualization is pretty simple, I can see someone working in any weather conditions and getting torched from the heat and frozen from the cold. Because of the descriptions in this poem, you are able to visualize the battles and struggle that he went through, though they did not impede his actions and life.
3. Explain metaphors.“My hopes the wind done scattered.” This implies that all that he desired had been crushed and brought to a halt. “Looks like between ‘em they done tried to make me stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’--” this represents how certain people or things have tried to obscure him from his dreams and his freedom. They had tried to take away all that he had and all that made him who he was.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?The poem starts off with a beat but then looses it; this makes the poem seem choppy. When the rhyme stops it emphasizes certain areas and applies more attention to the poem. The poem isn’t supposes to be a very cheerful poem and the rhythm goes from long to short sentences and adds a bit more drama; punctuation also helps.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.This poem is a life lesson given from a slave. He explains that he has been through many misfortunes, but he has still kept moving. Though he had been hurt and though people have conscientiously tried to break him down, he didn't let them get to him because he was still standing and living and didn't give up. “looks like between 'em they done tried to make me stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'-- but I don't care! I'm still here!”Even after all he had lost, after all his grief and miseries were present, he didn't let his pain or their actions impede his life. He kept moving and that is something many people could learn from, because many seem to think that others can control their lives. With this poem Hughes tries to show how no matter what obstacles you may face, or who may try to stop you, only you could chose to stop or keep moving. Only you could decide your own path and only you can control your own life, no matter who or what interferes.
B) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Mother to Son
1. What phrases are repeated?“Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” The mother was talking to her son and said this in the beginning and in the end. “I’se been a-climbin’ on” is repeated but altered to “I’se still climbin’.”
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)? There are many visuals in this poem, when the mother explains what obstacles she had over came; the words are able to describe her hardships. “It’s had tracks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor Bare.” Then when she describes the things she had gone through and accomplished she says, “And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, and sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light.” You’re able to see all that she explains and all the she’s been through.
3. Explain metaphors. “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” this means life hasn’t been easy. “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor bare.” Here she is just describing it hasn’t been desirable or pretty. Life hadn’t been what she wanted and it wasn’t pleasant to go through it. “I’se been a-climbin’ on, and reachin’ landin’s, and turnin’ corners,” she means that she is sill moving and keeps on moving forward throughout all her struggles. “And sometimes goin’ in the dark where there ain’t been no light.” This means that though she might not have known where she was going or heading, she kept moving and got somewhere in the end. “Don’t you set down on the steps. Don’t you fall now” she tells her son to not stop or give up and don’t fall or let someone else stop you from moving. There are many metaphors in this poem, but they aren't that difficult to decode and understand.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning? No rhythm or rhyme but the poem flows because there is a variation of sentences length that keeps the poem and words moving. They keep you reading because though there isn’t a maintained rhythm there is still a beat of a sort. It sounds more like a speech than a poem, but it allows you to visualize a conversation that a mom would have with her son. There forth the title appears “Mother to Son”
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza. This poem is a visualization of a mother advising her son to not give up and to not let obstacles obscure him from his dreams and his goals. She explains how she has been through many undesired halts in her life and how she has gotten over those bumps and kept moving. “For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin' and life for me ain't been no crystal stair.” Though things were tough and unexpected, she kept moving and didn't let her spirit weaken. Though she might have lost direction, she kept moving because she knew she had to get somewhere. This is a valuable lesson to learn in life, because some people seem to think that when things get hard, its time to quit. But Hughes gave the idea that when things get tough, you got to get tougher. He uses the scene of a mother and a son, because it is real. This is something that adults go through and learn from. They advise children to listen to them so they could try to avoid the same mistakes as their parents. This poem displays the everyday life of mother and son and a mothers battle to teach her child. He relates it to the ways of life and how you struggle to keep moving, and you learn from your mistakes so you could try to help others so things are easier for them.
C) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Merry-Go-Round
1. What phrases are repeated? Jim Crow, Merry go round, Down south and Back are repeated. In this poem he compares the south and the north, he is a kid that has just left slavery and is experiencing the differences of the cultures. Jim crow sections are where the blacks and whites are separated, and in the south is where slavery was pursued. The merry go round is what the boy what trying to ride and the black kids are always suppose to sit in the back, but there isn't a back to a merry go round.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)? You can visualize the the hate and the discrimination and the segregation. With words like the “Jim Crow section”, “White and colored can’t sit side by side”, “On the bus we’re pit in the back” and “Where’s the horse for a kid that’s black?” there is an obvious mistreatment in this poem and you can see it as well as feel it. What your also able to see is a merry go round and the fun of it. However a child is being deprived of that fun because he doesn't understand how he would be able to ride if he wasn't able to sit in the back like he is apt to doing.
3. Explain metaphors. The most important metaphor used is the merry go round. This is a representation of life and how its similar to a circle and it just keeps spinning and keeps moving. It may be fun, but sometimes it can go too fast and the fun is abolished.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning? The beginning starts off with rhythm but then the lack of rhythm gives the idea that a child is actually saying this, it gives it more of an affect. Some sections are choppy but the poem still flows together. The poem seems more real because of the rhythm and the lack of it as well.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza. In this poem, the merry go round is a symbol of life. And how people like to think that you can shove people aside to get in front and thrive and be better than others, but in truth there isn't a back to life and though in the aspects of life people are discriminated and shoved to the back, in the entirety of life it is impossible to do so to one another. In this poem, a colored child at a carnival goes to the merry go round and wants to ride, “Where is the Jim Crow section on this merry-go-round, mister, cause I want to ride?”. The boy doesn't know if he can ride though, because through out his life people have pushed him aside and placed him in the back. He doesn't see a back to the merry go round and he doesn't know if he should be allowed to ride like everyone else. “there ain't no back to a merry-go-round! Where's the horse for a kids that's black?” He doesn't understand how he would be able to ride, if he was always told to sit in the back and there wasn't a back. He is deprived of so much in his life and he doesn't want that to happen anymore, so he is trying to resolve his questions, but there isn't much of an answer.
D) Poetry Analysis Sheet: Fire-Caught
1. What phrases are repeated?Fire-caught is the title and it is said once in the poem, at the very end. Moth is also said twice because they are the 'characters' of the poem. Flame is said twice as well because it is the 'setting' of the story.
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory)?Through out the whole poem a scene is described. With the moth leaving, the moth flying with wings like “dead desire” and ending with the moth falling into the flame. Though this may not be the most cheerful scene to perceive it does give a simple message and is able to describe a scene of lost hope and despair.
3. Explain metaphors.When he mentions the moth 'Falling into the flame' this represents how the moth just gave up without the love or hope of another love. And when the moth 'Circled the flame' this could be described ad a sort of dizziness or lifelessness with out love. When she beat her 'wings like dead desire' this shows how the wings beat lifelessly, robotically, with out feeling and really not moving at all. A dead desire is a forgotten hope there is no use and its just stops.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?The poem is low and that adds emphasis to the grief and loss of the poem. There really isn't any rhythm to the poem, but there is rhyme. The rhyme is what keeps the poem from being to choppy and helps it seem more put together. the lines of the poem seem to sound long then short, so it seems to complete each other. The last two lines of the poem seem to not fit, but I think that is the point of the two lines, they stand out and are meant to be noticed because they are what makes the poem what it is. They are the meaning of the entire poem.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza.When first reading this poem, you get the idea that the gray moth circled th flame then feel into it. However when reading it again you see that it was in truth the golden moth whom feel into the flame. Though the golden moth was the one to fly away because she did not love the gray moth, she was the one to fall not him. This could translate into a number of things, but the reason that I think would most fit is that it was the golden moth to fall because it was her who did not have love. There could be more to this poem than said. She took him for granted and though he wait for her “until the break of day” she realized in the end how life was meaning less because she was vain and unappreciative. She left him because she wanted more, but could not achieve her desires. Though this is not stated, I could truthfully see this being the reason why the golden moth was the one to fall rather than the gray moth. She is the one that fell because to she wanted more and couldn't get what she wanted. She wouldn't find anything to her standards so her hopes were abolished and her life taken. She left and though it wasn't the right thing to do, she couldn't turn back, it shows the importance of making the right decisions.
Found Poem
Paul Dunbar: Life’s Tragedy
When we love;
When we sing;
We count our joys not by what we have,
By what kept us from that perfect thing.
It may be Misery:
To sing the perfect song
And by half a note lost the key.
It may be Misery:
To have came near the perfect love
Yet To have never been loved.
But Here the sad starting of life’s tragedy, here the sorrow
When we love or when we sing
Our joys are counted not by what we have
But what kept us from that perfect thing.
Same Style Poem
Langston Hughes: my own trails
By: Barbara Padilla
MY OWN TRAILS
I’ve been through the lot
Of the wrong and the bad
I walk on the streets and
People turn their backs
I notice the stairs
The looks when they mark me
I see how they push
Me out and discard me
But-
What I don’t get;
And though I don’t care,
Is why should I let them
Stop me from movin' up my own trails
Why should I let them
Carve my own tunnel
Why should I let them
Pave my own roads
Why should I give them reason
To make them life’s better
Why should I let them
Build my life for me
When all they really do
Is destruct; destroy; and discriminate.
Essay for Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes is the proud voice for all Black Americans that have been oppressed in their freedom to stand up for themselves. He speaks of the struggle that they battled through, the differences they were faced with and the idea that no matter what they were impeded with, they still kept moving. He uses varied sentence length to maintain something of a rhythm and make his poems seem more like everyday conversations to help emphasizes their realism. His poems are real, real life situations, not just words on some paper. Langston Hughes is a proud American and he doesn't care what others have to say. With his writings he's able to display how he believes things should be, and he says things in a way that proves that he's right. He also expresses the views of Black Americans and represents their visions and by proving them right, he implies that the White Americans are wrong. He feels pity for the White Americans not self-pity on the himself and his race. Though he may not be afraid to send his message no matter what he thinks, he still maintained a quite anger that was captured in every word he wrote. Langston Hughes was one of the very great writers of the 20th century, and that is established in his work by his unique voice and inspirational messages.
In the poem “Still Here” Langston Hughes implies the idea that even through the hard times the speaker still stood and stayed standing. He speaks of the fact that people have tried to stop him, his dreams were evaporated and he withstood all the agony just to say, “I don't care! I'm still here!” the situation in this poem could stand for a varied of different dilemmas of many different people, but given the fact of who Langston Hughes was and who he wrote for, I believe that the real reason for this poem is to show the pain of the Black American and how strong they really were to be able to go through their struggles and come out to say 'I'm still here!' This poem showed the struggles that one went through and withstood and the aggressiveness that that person had created to be able to withstand the hatred thrown at him. Imagine if your entire life was based around discrimination, hatred and judgment, you would have to be thick skinned to not be able to let people's words interfere with your life.
The poem “Mother To Son” is similar to the theme of “Still Here” but a different scene is evolved from “Mother To Son”. “Still Here” is a thing of reality to show the hardships one went through and still made it out OK. In “Mother to son” the speaker tells another of struggles and battles that she had over came, she tells of her agony and her pain. Yet in the end she concludes with the idea to not stop or fall but keep moving, even if its hard or uncertain don't stop. This lesson is one of great value because it is a representation of life and how things work. When things are tough people try to let those obstacles take control of their lives, when in truth, they shouldn't let those obstacles stop them from moving on their paths. People have to be in charge of their own lives in order to be happy and successful. Hughes isn't very upfront about any one person or any one situation, he just uses a real life situation to help express his vision of the struggles of peoples lives. He delivers a very inspirational message with a bit of reality of the lives of people who get the short end of the stick.
In his poem “Merry-Go-Round” he uses a child like situation to represent life and the struggle that black Americans go through trying to get that piece of life that they deserve. By using a child in this situation, he shows the innocents that is involved in the fact of trying to cover up the truth. People in the south didn't seem to think anything wrong of slavery, they thought that there was no harm in conducting in such behavior. This is similar to the ways of a child, they don't think anything is wrong or bad until they are told so by somebody else. Also placing the poem in a real life situation gives more reality to the poem and makes it seem more truthful. The merry-go-round represents life, and the child shows how it is difficult to enjoy life when your always told to do something different than others and your always being judged. Black Americans experienced other people pushing them aside and they weren't certain if they should be allowed similar opportunities because they had never been looked at as equal or treated as such. With this poem, Hughes expresses the struggle that colored people go through, trying to just live their life and enjoy themselves. With this poem he gives a very powerful message with a somewhat quite voice.
In this poem “Dream Variation” Langston Hughes wrote of a dream to live in this world with not just the freedom of controlling his own life, but with the freedom to have fun, relax and do what he wanted too on his own time. In this poem he tells of the dream to relax in the warm sun, and have fun in the white day, then rest at the cool black night. He uses the words black, dark, pale and white to express that in life those colors all work together, and thats how he wishes it to be. In this poem, he is proud of who he is, of his color, and he doesn't discriminate against the white Americans, he just wishes to be excepted and to be free. In this poem, Langston Hughes doesn't necessarily speak of struggle or differences, but rather the lack of them, and how it would be such a peaceful environment if people could get along. In this poem he is able to prove how his dream is a preferred way to live, and by proving that, he is able to imply that the way of life presently was wrong and unwanted. This poem is a very good example of how Langston Hughes writes, he's a proud black American and he wrote for the muted minds of others who had an opinion but were too quite or scarred to speak up for themselves.
This poem is a small exception to Langston Hughes regular style. In this poem he doesn't mention his culture, and he doesn't give a feeling of difference, but he does involve the sense of struggle. With tis poem “Fire-Caught” Langston Hughes describes a scene of one moth leaving another, and that one moth that flew away is the one to fall into the open flame. The biggest question that I had from this poem is why did the moth that flew away fall? Why was it not the moth that was left alone that fell? It seemed to make sense to write the poem that way, but I'm guessing that that was not what Hughes wrote because it was not the message he wanted to give. By making the golden moth leave the gray moth and then ending with the golden moth falling into the flame, Hughes was able to concoct the theme that people always misjudge and mistreat, but in the end they are the ones who are hurt. And from their mistakes they learn that sometimes when you make your mistakes, you can not take them back. Though this was not Langston Hughes' usual style of writing, he did stick to his basic pattern of writing, by using sentence length, and something like a real life situation. Also, if you really look at this poem, it can be related to the treatment of the black Americans and how they were never the ones who fell. The black Americans stood tall and soon the white Americans would feel the outcome of their decisions.
While studying the works of Langston Hughes, I was able to see that he wasn't necessarily a quite man. With his poems he expressed his every doubt and concern. He knew that the life he was living, was not all he could achieve. He waited for that change that he hoped to come. With his poems, I am sure he was able to rise many spirits and provide hope for some who had fallen. With his writings of struggle, he saw the strength that one would contain to withstand such pain. With his writing of discrimination, he was able to visualize a world of similarities. Langston Hughes was capable of constructing a simple image with just the power of his words, and he was able to create a gleam of hope with his thoughts of reformation. Hughes was able to place a little bit of himself in all of his literary works and because of his individuality, he was capable of providing a ray of hope for any one who unintentionally came across any of his insightful poems. The power of words is something that many seem to take for granted, but with the work of great poets, like Langston Hughes, I believe we are able of truly experiencing the full capabilities that words may construct.
Reflection
During this project, I was able to better achieve the capability to decode a poem, and find the voice of a poet. I can see the difference in each poet and the difference of each poem as well, but at the same time I can see the link of each poem and how they are similar to each poet and his writings.
When first given this assignment, it seemed a bit too much. But later I realized how this project would be easier to do if I continuously worked on it and made sure to not finish it all in one night. This project also helped me to realize how to manage my time in order to not get hung up with a ton of work to do in a little of time.
With the conclusion of this project I am glad to say I have gained a lot of positive influence had some encounters that I am sure to learn from. Though this project called for more writing and analyzing than I prefer, I was still glad to do this because I was able to find new poets and new poems that I adore. However, I didn't quite like the amount of work involved, fortunately we were given just enough time to complete the work. I'm glad to have done well on this project and now I am just hopeful for a grade that reflects the amount of work involved in my construction of this project and the amount of time spent on it as well.
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