Final Blog Post

For my research paper i am doing a comparison on the works of Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman, specifically “A Song of Myself” and “Theme for English B”. In one of the sources i found called Critical Essay on “Theme for English B” by Chris Samensky he analyzes the thought process of Langston Hughes literary outline of this poem. Samensky refers to it as a “lyric poem”, and says “The assumption of such poems is that by describing what is inside of them, narrators of lyrics are able to articulate the truth about themselves.” Langston Hughes used this poem as a view inside his life, his youth, the indifference he felt in his community and shared it as a sense of unity among possibly other minorities struggling to fit in. I liked this article because i felt like it really touched on the depth of Langston Hughes words. Such a simple poem but holds much weight and emotion and i think thats its purpose. The teacher mentioned in the poem gives an assignment for the students to write about themselves as if writing about yourself is an easy task. For some one with years of oppression and struggle writing a poem about yourself is personal and causes you to have to be honest and vulnerable with yourself. His courage and confidence in the poem is empowering and for that reason leaves an impact on those who read it. Semansky, Chris. “Critical Essay on ‘Theme for English B’.” Poetry for Students, edited by Mary Ruby, vol. 6, Gale, 1999. Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.proxy055.nclive.org/apps/doc/H1420043011/GLS?u=durham_tccl&sid=GLS&xid=304b6e83. Accessed 17 Nov. 2019.