Poetic Form in Hughes Theme for English B Essay -- Theme English B E

Since the beginning of our countrys history, people of African descent have continuously undergone persecution by those of European descent. Although the arouse of racial affairs in the 1990s is an enormous improvement from the days of slavery, racial tension still exists. In the twentieth century, no time surpasses the 1950s and 1960s in carnal knowledge to racial injustice and violence. In every facet of American life, prejudice and racial inequality exude during these tumultuous twenty years. Langston Hughes, an African-American writer, exposes the divisions between Caucasians and African Americans in the social construct of the educational system during this chaotic time period. In Hughes poem, Theme for English B, he discusses racism through the stage of a university in America, using narrative and poetic devices to express the feelings and emotions involved in the struggle for equality. The poems structure divides into three main stanzas with a one-line form at the end. indi te in free verse, the poem is unencumbered from restrictions regarding its structure and rhyme scheme. The use of free verse adds to the poems stream-of-consciousness flow. The rhythm found in the poem is a haphazard mix of beats and stressed and unstressed syllables. Reading the poem aloud, the rhythm resonates like a jazz song. In addition to the three main stanzas, 7 major sections appear as the writing progresses. The social situation of the 1950s is the basis for the poem. The antecedent scenario suggests a newly segregated university and an African-American student attempting to break racial barriers. The speaker of the poem feels uncomfortable in his class of all Caucasian students. Isolated in class, he is overwhelmingly reminded of his d... ... the new kid, the only kid with glasses, or of a different religion or culture. Through his use of structure, the audience feels all of the emotions the writer. As the writer goes through his day and starts to write, the audience u nderstands his trials and tribulations with the help of stanza forms and content. The set of the poem and the form used follows his life through the confines of the paper, makes his way throught the trials and tribulations of African-American life in the 1950s. Works Cited Scaife, Ross. A Glossary of Rhetorical ground with Examples. URL http//www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/rhetoric.html. Turco, Lewis. The New Book of Forms A Handbook of Poetics. Hanover University Press of New England 1986. Vendler, Helen. Poems, Poets, Poetry An Introduction and Anthology. Boston Bedford Books of St. Martins Press 1997.