Thursday, March 25, 2010
Harlem
When I first started thinking of which poem I wanted to write about I immediately went to Harlem. The reason is it reminded me of the poem The Red Wheelbarrow. These poems both ask a question and also create amazing images in your mind when you read them. Harlem is a little longer but now much and still accomplishes the same objective that The Red Wheelbarrow did. The first thing that Langston Hughes asks is “What happens to a dream deferred”, it’s the first sentence of the poem and I find myself already having to answer a question. Then he begins to create images with the Sun, Sore, and rotten meat. Just like in The Red Wheelbarrow the reader is either attracted to the questions or to the images that Langston Hughes is trying to create. I paid more attention to the Images that were created rather than the question that was asked. There is also another question asked at the end of the poem, “Or does it explode” which I didn’t pay any attention to at all. There is one thing for certain though; this poem definitely makes the reader think. This defiantly goes down with The Red Wheelbarrow as being one of my favorite poems.
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I think the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes was one of the best poems that he could have written. On reason i say this is because the way he explains the city of Harlem throughout the poem. Its seems like when he say (does it dry up like a raisin in the sun)its when the streets of Harlm get rained on it drys. The criminals here fester like a sore and then run from the police. The garbage in the back allies like rotten meat is in it. or like a big woman in the streets of Harlem walking and the heavy load of her body is sages. But yes this story to me is explaing Harlem in a way of enjoyment like i just put it it makes u think.
ReplyDeleteI too love the image that Hughes paints with his words. I feel as if I'm looking at the same picture is does during that time and period. When I read the poem I felt attracted to the thought of how could a city such as Harlem come to such a degree of filth and waste. I think that Hughes was trying to emphasis on the fact that blacks doing that time were very much oppressed and was some how seeking retribution though his own words.
ReplyDeleteThe image in this poem is a major plus in readers being attracted to this poem by Langston Hughes. This poem is kind of like a poem we read a while back where it talks of the city being filled with lumberjacks and such. It is almost to the point of where Langston Hughes is trying to wake up the people living in Harlem area, and get them to make a turn around for the better of the city. Another point Hughes seemed to be trying to get across was the discrimination and such of that time period for African Americans. I think Foster used lines from the poem well in his blog.
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