LANGSTON HUGHES POETRY
DEMOCRACY
- What is the tone in this poem?
- Who do you think is the speaker in the poem? Describe him or her.
- What clichés is the speaker tired of hearing? Why?
- What is ironic about the title “Democracy”?
DREAMS DEFERRED
- What does “deferred” mean?
- To you , what was the most dramatic image evoked in the poem? Why? ?
- What do you see as the ultimate theme presented in this powerful poem?
DREAM VARIATIONS
1. What is the rhyme pattern here?
2. How is the tone different here than in the prior two poems?
3. Is there any significance in his contrast of white day, pale evening
and his own description of being black and dark? Explain.
4. Why is the night seen as gentle and tender and the day as quick and whirling?
DREAMS
1. Give me an example of personification.
2. What are the metaphors for life?
3. What happens if we lose our faith in dreams?
I, TOO
1. To what time in American history do you think the 1st stanza relates?
2. When and how can shame be productive?
3. Recall a time you have dfeltr ashamed and learned something valuable from the experience.
MOTHER TO SON
1. How is dialect effective in this poem?
2 What effective metaphor was used to describe the narrator's life?
4. What are the “landins, “light, ”“corners” and “darkness” in life?
5. What is the universal theme of this poem?
***After completing these questions to hand in in class, discuss on the blog what you think are two universal themes Hughe's presents over all these poems? Support your choices by referring to lines that express your ideas.
One of the universal themes in Hughe's poeems is:
ReplyDeleteNever give up on your dreams. He states this forcefully in Mother to Son and also in Me Too.
Another theme is: Do not put off accomplishing your dreams. This is stated in Democracy and Dreams Deferred by warning that dreams we put off will eventually die. We all want and deserve the dream of freedom today!
If we lose faith in our dreams than we wont have anything to look forward to and we wont be able to live life to our fullest.
ReplyDeleteShame CAN be productive. If you are about to give and people keep pushing you down and saying nasty words to you well you just take those nasty word and you mix them and scramble them into encouragement and you keep on pushing. Because those mean nasty words will only make you stronger.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked about all these stories is the themes. They all are very important and things that we will use for the rest of our life. I also liked the similes in the short stories. They were very powerful
ReplyDeleteI think two of the main themes in his poems are don't give up on your dreams work hard and your dream or goal will come and the second one is be your self and if your friends are really your friends they will think your amazing no matter what.
ReplyDeleteI think that two themes are that you have to be yourself to be happy, and that you should never forget or give up your dreams so you will do good to achieve them.
ReplyDeleteI really liked all the charactors in all the stories. I thought that Laurie or Charles' charactor really came alive and the author did a really good job having Laurie describe himself and I never thought that it actually was Laurie and there was no Charles. All the stories were good, but I liked Charles the best
ReplyDeleteIf you lose faith in your dreams you wont know your goals and nothing will be leading you into the wrong or right path.
ReplyDeleteI think that the way Halle put it describes it perfectly. She put that no madder what you sould keep on pushing forward as a theme and I think that, that it totally right.
ReplyDeleteTo me He ment that all people sould keep moving forward and never give up. I think he could have had it the hardest but he just moved forward and ignored the negative comments.
ReplyDeleteI really like Halle's post because I felt the same way. If your friends are really a good friend they will like you for you. This means you don't have to change to get friends, you just have to believe in yourself and your TRUE friends will stick out.
ReplyDeleteI think a theme that showed up in all the short stories was "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
ReplyDeleteSome examples of this moral in Ransom of Red Chief and Thank You M'am. In the Ransom of Red Chief, Bill and Sam think that kidnapping a 10 year old boy would be simple, but after they had dealt with his pranks and weary games, they knew they had made a mistake. In Thank You M'am, Roger tries to mug an old lady. He thought that the result would be the lady cowering in fear and him making a clean getaway. He was proven wrong when the lady caught him and kicked him right in his blue- jeaned sitter. Alll in all, this stories all seemed to have the same idea and theme.
Chase's themes were also very true. He stated that you should never give up on your dreams. This theme is strongly shown in all of these short stories.
ReplyDeleteI think that the themes that Halle pointed out are constantly appearing through Langston Hughes' poems. I also think that the main reason for him including these themes in his writing is that he saw many people around him giving up on their dreams or holding false predjudices against others.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts:
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading Langston Hughes' poetry, I noticed that there was a tone of rebellion in most of his writing. I felt that he inserted an indirect theme to all abolitionists, blacks, and mistreated people through his poetry.It was...
You can't give up on the dream of freedom and equality, by doing that, you will only make sure it doesn't happen. First, you must look at yourself with self-esteem and confidence, only then will people look at you as an equal, instead of an inferior.
Langston Hughes, along with many other people during the Harlem Rennaisance, found a way to stand up for themselves by using the talents that they were born with. People used poetry, music, novels, and art to express their feelings about society.
Some of the themes that were repetitive in Langston Hughes' writing were...
ReplyDelete*If you are living your life without a goal or dream, you are living without meaning.
*If you spend your time judging the people around you, you will have no time to love them.
A great simile in The Randsome of Redchief was when Sam compared Jonny to have fought like a walter weight cinnamon bear.
ReplyDeleteI think Nicholas put a great theme that is very true. We all must live life to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteGerrit, I think yougot a little confused. You commented under the poems section, but kept referring to the stories. Then you mentioned themes and similes but never gave examples of either. I know you must have some great ideas, so please just go back under the short story section and give me some examples you liked of themes and similes in the short stories. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMicah, you expressed yourself beautifully, and I can't agree with you more. You have to respect yourself before you can expect others to respect you. You seem to have a very strong sense of self, and that shows in everything you do. Good job!
ReplyDeleteSidra, by error, I wrote my comment I meant for you to Micah. You did such a mature wonderful job of interpreting Langson Hughe's poems, and I am so proud of you. You have a firm grasp of his themes, and it seems that you are able to express deep feelings beautifully. Sorry for the mistake. Great job!
ReplyDeleteGabe, you did a very nice job of expressing yourself and interpreting the stories well related to the theme of never giving up. By mistake however, you put your comment in the poetry section instead of the short stories section. Good job!
ReplyDelete