Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Literature 215 - YouTube (2)
I don't want to get too Lit Crit-y on you but it's like the last line itself is trying to
explode because there's no break, no relief. So the rhymes make it sound harmless, like
it's from a children's book, but the imagery and rhythm tell another, much more barbed story.
And this is definitely one of Hughes' more political poems: He's warning that if circumstances don't change,
there might be dangerous consequences. This poem proceeded the bulk of the Civil Rights Movement,
but it suggests that withholding true equality has real risks and real costs to everyone in a social order.
There's so many other great Langston Hughes poems that we don't have time to discuss like:
"Dream Boogie", "I, Too", "Dream Variations", "Theme for English B". I want to share just
one more with you, no lit crit or anything, just the poem: "Folks I'm tell you, birthing
is hard and dying is mean, so get yourself a little lovin, in between." See, sometimes
literature is just in the business of proving good advice.
Thanks for watching. I'll see you next week.
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