The tone of Langston Hughes’ poem “As I Grew Older”
changes throughout, oscillating between hopefulness and hopelessness
.
What is the theme of the poem As I Grew Older How can you connect it to the world around you?
“As I Grew Older” is a poem about
the dreams that the poet was unable to achieve because of racial subjugation and discrimination
. The poet, in his childhood, had dreams but as time passed and he grew up, he was subjected to racial prejudice and oppression.
Is the poem As I Grew Older optimistic or pessimistic?
The poem “As I Grew Older” is
optimistic
. Explanation: The question is asked from the poem As I Grew Older which is written by the poet Langston Hughes. The theme of the poem is all about not giving up and needs to speak up and be heard in the world.
What do you comment on the title of the poem As I Grew Older?
1. In his poem “As I grew older” Langston Hughes
depicts a very negative image of the notion “American Dream
“. The poet metaphorizes his own experiences of racial discrimination and thus also his experiences containing the reality of the American Dream in four steps that can be outwardly seen as four stanzas.
What is the tone of the poem Harlem?
The tone of this poem is
frustration
. The poet uses imagery to ponder about one of the poem’s themes: postponed dreams.
What is the summary of the poem as I grew older?
The poet uses the metaphor of the wall to represent racism and prejudice that shatter dreams for the child.
As he moved through his life
, the narrator felt unable to go out into the sun that once held his dreams. He moves now in the shadows of life. He can no longer see the bright dreams that he had as a naïve child.
What do you think will be the effect of breaking through the wall in the poem as I grew older?
What do you think will be the effect of breaking through the wall? The darkness represents the despair, discrimination, persecution and inequality.
The light represents hope for the future and the ability to achieve dreams
.
Is the poet optimistic or pessimistic?
Answer: The poet’s
tone is optimistic
. The message in the poem is presented to us straight forward in third stanza, which offers a sort of summary or conclusion to what has come before.
Which wall do you think separates the poet from his dream?
Answer: The poem is pessimistic because the speaker talks about a wall which separates him from his dream. This wall is the attitude / prejudices / racism of society towards black people. The “
wall
” separates him from his dream (because he is black) and has fewer chances to succeed (than whites).
What does the poet compare his dream to why do you think he chose to make the comparison?
The poem speaks is about the importance of a dream. The poem is composed of two stanzas with four lines each. The poet has
metaphorically compared a life without a dream with a bird with broken wings that cannot fly in the first stanza
.
What images are used in poem as I grew older?
The primary imagery in the poem is
light and dark
. The speaker of the poem compares his dream to the sun. Standing between the speaker and the sun are a wall and a shadow, blocking the light of the dream.
What has happened to the dream in as I grew older?
Answer:
The poet’s dream was lost, when a wall rose up high between him and his dream, blocking it by a dark shadow
. The wall symbolizes difficulties and the discrimination that people who are black face in their lives.
How many time frames are used in the poem as I grew older?
The simple vocabulary makes each word important, the themes are clear, and repetitions in the poem create movement. The speaker is the poet himself, telling us about his own personal experience in his life. The setting of the poem is divided into
three clear time frames
.
What is the main message of Harlem?
The main themes in “Harlem” are
civil rights, the American dream, and anger
. Civil rights: “Harlem” mourns the hopes and dreams that Black Americans have had to sacrifice because of racism and discrimination.
What is the tone and mood of Harlem?
One of the tones of the poem “Harlem” is
frustration
. The poets uses negative words like “fester” and “run”, and phrases like “stink like rotten meat” to convey his frustrated tone.
What is the purpose of the poem Harlem?
Langston Hughes’ poem Harlem
explains what could happen to dreams that are deferred or put on hold
. The poem was initially meant to focus on the dreams of blacks during the 1950s, but is relevant to the dreams of all people.
