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`I Too`by Langston Hughes

An analysis of I , Too by Langston Hughes 7184

Langston Hughes was a potential Black American poet [1902-1967] who was an exponent of Harlem Renaissance in New York in the `20s . The motto of Harlem Renaissance was winning a status of equality for the Afro-Americans . As Hughes resided in a ghetto in Harlem it became an opportunity for him in spearheading the movement . In almost all his poems , we hear a volley of protest hurled against those who differentiated between the Black and the White-skinned Americans Langston Hughes 's specialty was

voicing protest against all kinds of inequality in easy , day-to-day diction that can be easily understood by the common populace

Langston Hughes was a revered literary personality of the '20s who had written brilliant poems along with drama , fiction et al . But his poetical lines touch the inmost chord of every reader - be he a scholarly reader or a run-of-the-mill one . The poems written by Langston Hughes contained lines which were built on the drops of blood of the ignored , `pushed to the periphery , Black populace of America . In the poem I , Too , the very title suggests that Hughes was voicing the protest against the Whites , against the privileged class of the-then America . He was joining his darker brothers ' in rising up in arms

In the compass of nineteen easy lines , I , Too , strongly stages a protest against the discrimination made in case of the Black Americans The line with which the poem begins is : I too sing America .In I hear America singing ' Whitman included all the inhabitants of America from all walks of life . But here the word I , too ' signifies that he is a sprocket in the wheel , he is one among the many who stands against all inequalities pitted against his brothers along with himself . This inequality makes him aggressive , adamant and he dares sing America where he and his brothers were born and brought up . Naturally , his citizenship in the land of America was no acquired ' one ! How could he brook such differentiation made according to his color of skin ? The seed of apartheid , a feeling of animosity was thus taking roots in the hearts of the Black populace ! In the line I am the darker brother the emphasis automatically falls on darker ! According to Baxter R Miller , the darker brothers were generally ill-fed , ugly and barred from a spontaneous display in front of all .[1989 , p-24] In a similar kind of poem Let America be America Again , we hear a strong voice against such schism based on the feelings of Apartheid : O let my land be a land where Liberty / Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath /But opportunity is real , and life is free /Equality is in the air we breathe /[There 's never been equality for me /Nor freedom in this `homeland of the free '] Hughes had stressed upon the word equality and registered his disgust in this shackled existence in the `homeland of the free . Throughout this poem the...

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