"Theme for English B"

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that, often times, poetry seems to be an author's way of forcing a reader into wrestling with some deep insight, which could be stated in a few words, but is hidden under layers of rhyme and formal structure. Luckily, the best poetry is capable of giving us some bit of truth that we may not have otherwise considered an at the same time, helping us to experience something of the author's life. The paper shows that the poem, "Theme for English B," by Langston Hughes, is an excellent example of poetry that conveys a bigger idea than its few lines would seem to contain by capturing a piece of the author.

From the Paper:

"The speaker and the author in this poem are distinctly different. The speaker is a twenty-two year old college student, while the author at this point is a forty-seven year old accomplished writer and teacher. Hughes uses the persona of the speaker as a way to look inside himself and express his feelings. The idea of race is very important to the speaker, who worries that his differences will color all that he does. Hughes writes, "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" (25-28). While the speaker is concerned with his race being a factor in what he writes, it is the author's voice showing through to give us an idea of his worries about his own image as a writer."

More papers on "Theme for English B":

• Analytical Essay # 17038 : "Hughes' "Theme for English B"
• Analytical Essay # 49769 : "Langston Hughes's Hope for Social Change"
• Poem Review # 113897 : "An African-American Voice"

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