LANSTON HUES

LANSTON HUGES INTERPRETATION

QUOTE

• Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Langston Hughes
• I chose this quote because to me this is saying if you have a dream hold on to it even when things seem like they won't work out. If you give up then you have nothing.

BAD MEET

• Here I jump With my mark unreliable. Lawdy-mercy! I's frustrated!

SUICIDE NOTES

• The calm, Cool face of the river Asked me for a kiss.
• Personification-in the form of the river asking him for a kiss.
• The speaker: this could be huges way of saying his goodbye doesn't have to be a bad thing.

AS I GREW OLDER

• It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun— My dream. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall. Shadow. I am black. I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me. Only the thick wall. Only the shadow. My hands! My dark hands! Break through the wall! Find my dream! Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun!
• I like this poem because I believe everyone should have dreams and should have self confidence.

DINNER GUEST:ME

• I know I am The Negro Problem Being wined and dined, Answering the usual questions That come to white mind Which seeks demurely To Probe in polite way The why and wherewithal Of darkness U.S.A.-- Wondering how things got this way In current democratic night, Murmuring gently Over fraises du bois, "I'm so ashamed of being white." The lobster is delicious, The wine divine, And center of attention At the damask table, mine. To be a Problem on Park Avenue at eight Is not so bad. Solutions to the Problem, Of course, wait.
• This poem emphasizes the racial problems during this time period and how nobody really was doing anything about it but waiting for things to change.