literature

Running Head : Dickinson and Hughes

Theme and Poetic Elements in Works Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes

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Theme and Poetic Elements in Works Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes

Theme and poetic elements are an integral part of poetry . In this the poems Dream Variations ' and Negro Speaks of Rivers ' by Langston Hughes and Success is Counted Sweetest ' and Wild Nights by Emily Dickinson will be explored

Langston Hughes ' work Dream Variations ' is a poem that uses ABCB rhyming structure , although it is not consistent throughout ( that

is my dream ' at the end of the first stanza does not rhyme . It also employs the use of repetition by repeating the verse to fling my arms wide (page ) while the rhythm of the poem evokes the structure of blues music . Hughes uses the metaphor of darkness of night to describe his own skin color . Sun ' and evening ' are symbols where the sun represents the country of his ancestors , Africa and evening represents African-American people . Africa - the sun - stands for warmth and freedom , where someone like Hughes can dance freely . The evening , with its blackness and cold , are representative of America , where the plight of African-Americans is infused with racism and oppression , which is the theme of the poem

In Negro Speaks of Rivers , Hughes uses much repetition as in the verses which begin with I 've known ' and the liberal use of first person by beginning verses with I , as in I bathed , I built I look ' and I heard (page . Personification occurs in the lines with dawns were young , singing of the Mississippi ' and its muddy bosom . There are similes as well : soul grown deep like the rivers , rivers ancient as the world (page . Slight alliteration is exhibited once again in his use of the words I ' and I 've ' to begin many of the verses . Symbolism abounds in Negro Speaks of Rivers ' as the rivers themselves signify race ( the muddy river ) as well as immortality (the naming of ancient rivers from which the African-American people were sustained . Hughes also mentions Abraham Lincoln , the Mississippi .muddy bosom turned all golden in the sunset , as a way to pay homage to the president 's fight to end slavery . The theme in this poem , as well , refers to racism and the struggle of African-Americans during a time when segregation was the norm

With Emily Dickinson 's poem Success is Counted Sweetest , the use of ABCB rhyming is also employed . Metaphor appears as the likening of success to nectar , a thing which is sweet and desired . The term purple host ' in the second stanza refers to a winning team who raises their flag in victory although they do not understand the meaning of success while in the last stanza defeated ' and dying ' are used to refer to someone who has been defeated by the inability to achieve success (page . The theme here seems to be of winners and losers and how the tenuous definition of success ' separates them

Alternately , the...