First, review the slideshow about literary elements. Then, read “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes. Please also read the short biography about Hughes and the article about the Harlem Renaissance.
After reading these materials, write about the poem. Consider the following questions:
How does the Harlem Renaissance feature in this poem? What is Hughes concern about the assignment he is being given by his white teacher? The college “on the hill above Harlem” is Columbia University, an Ivy League school; what do you know about Columbia and the Ivy Leagues? How many non-white students do you think attended these schools in the 1920s, when Hughes was a student? How does this affect the way his teacher might see him?
This poem is about the Columbia University equivalent of English 102 (English B, the second semester of freshmen English). As we begin our semester together, what would you like me to know about you?
Theme for English B
BY LANGSTON HUGHES (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes)
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it’s that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white
—
and somewhat more free.
https://poets.org/poet/langston-hughes
This is my page for English B.
