“Harlem” was a poem work written by Langston Hughes in 1951, a time when jazz and blues music was emanating. He wrote the poem to explore the consciousness and lives of the black people in Harlem (Duki 162). The composition took another path of addressing the continuous experience of the community’s racial injustice, which was rampant at the time. Through Harlem, the author reveals the impact of delayed racial equality, which is from normal consideration harmful. His using of various literary mechanisms such as imaginaries, symbols, themes, and poem structure, Hughes perfectly conveys his message to society.
In every poem and other literary works, the authors honor the need to use literary devices. These are tools used artistically in writing to enhance textual meanings and, at the same time, give the audience time to interpret scripts in several ways. Harlem is not an exceptional poem in this regard, as the author has ensured the piece is interesting through the application of such writing mechanisms. For instance, the poem’s language structure was diplomatically radical. From the message he was sending to the society, it was convenient for Hughes to opt for political construction as an arsenal to his success.
His poetic arsenal was to act concerned and skilled to overcome and fight the factual institution of slavery. Thus, the poem’s structure and overall message fight for the blacks’ liberation from racial bondage. The writer appears as the vanguard of the Afro-American movement in the entire of Harlem (Duki 163). In this poem, Hughes starts by asking “what happens to dream differed” (Hughes 1), indicating the alteration of the blacks’ experience and vision. The piece is a reminiscence of the streams that have for long enriched the narrator’s soul and represents endurance, death, perseverance, and life of the blacks. From the structure and wording of this writing, it is clear the poet was disturbed, which provoked him into writing to seek justice and equity.
The poem is written through the application of protesting and a revolutionary tone. This is structural in that he intended to fight for his community until a change is discovered. Hughes is outraged and equally shocked due to the persisting segregation, which was seeping Harlem people to demean the blacks’ proletariat (Duki 167). From a historical perspective, there was a lynching in the southern part of the country, although the black had contributed to the allied armies during the Great War. The tone and structure of the poem show the writer wanted to let the world know; the blacks were also helpful by supporting the country’s development. Thus far, it is significant to note this writing is structured to liberate the blacks and written in a lamenting manner.
The poet employed several themes to approach the suitable means of leveraging the blacks’ living conditions. The influence of writing this piece was on the conditions of his people in the land of the whites. Some of the themes he used to address his message were miscegenation, racism, and the deportation of blacks. Hughes created all these themes to reinforce the struggle for equality because these people were suffering, which resulted in sadness and delay. His concerns were that the people he represents are languishing due to racial injustices directed to them.
By using various themes in this piece of writing, Hughes revealed the oppression of his people-the African-Americans. This structure made him introduce a tone that pleaded for their goal. Society was to be approachable instead of losing meaning because besides being human, these people had served the nation. The entire lamenting structure of the poem means the speaker is burdened and still emphasizes for the worse because he reveals the possibility of breaking the burden. The message is of a person who is already tired of what was going on in the white-dominated community (Challener 1). In the hearts of people like him, there was no room for perseverance. Besides, the structure also seeks to reveal a group of people with big ideas, but the system of living in the area does not allow them to exercise what they understand. It is, therefore, a type of frustration which he thought would best reach his audience through designing a poem to appear as a political lament.
In conclusion, it is vital to note that Harlem is a poem written by Hughes on behalf of his black community. The work adheres to the artistic need of all writers by using literary devices to speak out the message. Hughes utilizes various themes to ensure the poem is structured so that it rests on addressing political concerns. The idea was to fight for his black people, to free them from slavery which had been rampant because the blacks appeared minority and foreigners. For such a message to be well encoded, he used lamenting style and structure perhaps so that the world can hear. Harlem was a poem for Hughes’ people as there was a need for their release from oppression.
Works Cited
Challener, Scott. “Langston Hughes: “Harlem”. Poetry foundation. n.d.
Duki, M. Jacques. “The Essential Characteristics of Langston Hughes’ Poetry and Their Impact on the Congolese Conscience”. International Journal of Language and Literature, vol. 5. no. 2, 2017. pp.162-173.
Hughes, Langston. “Harlem”. Poetry Foundation. n.d.