Hughes Use of Literary Devices - 658 Words

Langston Hughes Use of Literary Devices Only a half of century after the abolition of slavery, the African Americans began the movement of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920‘s. Suppressed by whites, segregation, second-class citizen ship and a poor education Langston Hughes became one of the most inspirational poets of his time. Langston Hughes let the world know of his existence through his poetry. Ignited with passion, pride and knowledge of the journey through slavery and there after, Hughes used his poetry to paint the world through the eyes, ears and voice of an African American. His magnificent use of similes, metaphors, symbolism and imagery intensify just that. In Hughes poems â€Å"Harlem - A Dream Deferred† and â€Å" I, Too† his use of these literary devices brings his poetry to life. Imagery and similes are a vital part of Hughes poetry. In â€Å"Harlem- A Dream Deferred†, Hughes use of imagery and similes go hand in hand. He uses Imagery to ro use the reader’s senses. â€Å"What Happens to a Dream Deferred?† (L1) â€Å"Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?† (L2 L3) The Imagery here is what the raisin once was. The raisin once was a luscious grape that had been left in the sun and forgotten. The simile here brings this line to life. The deferred dream compared to a dried up raisin refers giving up on or letting go of your dream. â€Å"Or Fester like a sore, and then run† (L4 L5) here the imagery evokes the pain of a sore and becomes infected. The simile of â€Å"like a sore† (L4) isShow MoreRelatedLiterary Devices In The Slow Goodbye By Ted Hughes855 Words   |  4 Pages Ted Hughes uses numerous literary devices in this poem to compare his various subjects to the eventual release of death. His most used devices include imagery, repetition, and metaphors and similes. The imagery often includes many natural things, such as a garden or animals. The repetitions used in the poem are t he lines â€Å"is the slow goodbye† and each sorrow that is explained in each stanza. â€Å"The slow goodbye† is referring to the fact that death is slowly approaching, and a person cannot do as manyRead MoreLangston Hughes Essay1084 Words   |  5 PagesLangston Hughes was a large influence on the African-American population of America. Some of the ways he did this was how his poetry influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and the Harlem Renaissance. These caused the civil rights movement that resulted in African-Americans getting the rights that they deserved in the United States. Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young and his grandmother raised him. She got him into literature and education; she was one ofRead MoreMaya Angelou And Langston Hughes1193 Words   |  5 Pageslanguage†. There are so many ways love can be interpreted. The central message that the comfort humans receive, and the shyness they feel for an indiv idual are compartments of love that may not always be touched on in poetry. Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes are both African American poets that have made tremendously positive names for themselves in the literature department. Their significant signature in the poetic community has been made by their passion and commitment to produce poetry that speaksRead MoreEssay on The Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes 1038 Words   |  5 Pages Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, which was the first major movement of African- American life and culture. Hughes was influenced by living in New York Citys Harlem, where his literary works helped shape American literature and politics. Hughes strong sense of racial pride helped him promote equality, celebrate African- American culture, and condemn racism through his poetry, novels, plays, essays, and childrensRead MoreExplication Of Harlem s Dream Deferred912 Words   |  4 PagesExplication of â€Å"Harlem [Dream Deferred]† â€Å"Harlem [Dream Deferred]† by Langston Hughes may seem like an insignificant poem at first glance. It contains only 11 lines and the diction is simple enough, but it is much more profound upon further exploration and understanding. Hughes applies the theme of frustration and use of metaphor, simile, and imagery to express the important issues of this time. The community of Harlem was primarily black, and this poem articulates the struggle of these people duringRead MoreYolande Cornelia â€Å"Nikki† Giovanni Jr Is An Well-Known African-American Poet, Writer, Commentator,978 Words   |  4 Pageswriter, commentator, activist, and educator. Today we will look at â€Å"A poem for Langston Hughes† from her collection and do a literary analysis on it. The author took the time to adopt a certain sound throughout her work. You can shape sound within a poem through accent, alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rhyme, meter, onomatopoeia, rhyme and rhythm. She uses a combination of these sound devices used in poetry. Punctuation and form of the poem sets the timing to add emphasis or makeRead MoreRhetorical Devices Of `` We Wear The Mask `` And `` Harlem ``885 Words   |  4 Pagesliterature, rhetorical devices are primarily used to convey a particular feeling or action to the reader. Through the use of rhetorical devices such as imagery, description, and metaphorical allusion, the author gives the reader the ability to connect with the text on a more intimate level that otherwise would not have been achieved without the use of them. Subsequently, Harlem Renaissance writers such as Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Langston Hughes employed the rhetorical devices of imagery, descriptionRead MoreInvictus And Mother To Son Analysis752 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Ernest Henley and â€Å"Mother to Son† by Langston Hughes both convey the message that people who are struggling throughout a hardship can not give up and need to get stronger . Throughout â€Å"Invictus† William Ernest Henley conveys that people can not give up when theyre struggling. He shows this by using figurative language in multiple ways, like using a metaphor to show hardships, not giving up and getting stronger. For example the author uses, â€Å"My head is bloody, but unbowed† (Henley 4). The metaphorRead MoreThe Poem ‘Mother To Son’ By Langston Hughes First Published1198 Words   |  5 PagesThe poem ‘Mother to Son’ by Langston Hughes first published in 1922 and ‘The Road not Taken’ by Robert Frost have a number of similarities. These poems are parables in which experienced people give advice about life choices. In both poems, the personas were initially in some trouble in life but they currently have no remorse for the way they made choices and lived. Also, both poems have a moral lesson that life may not always be easy but at the end, the choices that people make will determine theirRead More Let America Be America Again Poem Analysis792 Words   |  4 PagesThe American Dream or Nightmare? In â€Å"Let America Be America Again,† Langston Hughes addresses the reality of inequality and discriminative behaviors of the American people in the pre-Civil War era. Many Americans during this time felt the American Dream was just an illusion because they can never get the opportunity to make it their reality. In this poem, Hughes voices these silent Americans’ concern of how the founding principles of America are not being fulfilled unless a person is wealthy or