Theme for English B

Langston Hughes * Track #91 On Emily Dickinson

Download "Theme for English B"

Album Emily Dickinson

ALBUM

Langston Hughes

2015

Theme for English B by Langston Hughes

Performed by

Langston Hughes

About

A late poem in Hughes’s career, first published in Montage of a Dream 1951, 25 years after Hughes debuted with The Weary Blues at age twenty-four.

The dream relates to black liberation and reflects Hughes’s experiences at Columbia University in New York City.

The speaker is asked by his teacher to...

Theme for English B Annotated

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.

This is my page for English B.

Theme for English B

Langston Hughes * Track #91 On Emily Dickinson

Download "Theme for English B"

Album Emily Dickinson

Theme for English B by Langston Hughes

Performed by

About

Theme for English B Annotated

Theme for English B Q&A

Who wrote Theme for English B's ?

Your Gateway to High-Quality MP3, FLAC and Lyrics

― DownloadMP3FLAC.com ―