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 state of racial affairs in the 1990s is an enormous feeler from the days of slavery, racial tension still exists. In the twentieth century, no time surpasses the 1950s and 1960s in relation to racial injustice and violence. In every facial evinceion 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 amicable construct of the educational administration during this chaotic time period. In Hughes poem, Theme for English B, he discusses racism through with(predicate) 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 complex body part divides into three main stanzas wi th a one-line form at the end. Written 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 random mix of beats and stressed and unstressed syllables. discipline the poem aloud, the rhythm resonates like a jazz song. In addition to the three main stanzas, seven 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 split 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. finished his use of structure, the audience feels all of the emotions the writer. As the writer goes through h is day and starts to write, the audience understands his trials and tribulations with the help of stanza forms and content. The shape 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 Terms 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.