Whitman And Hughes Influence On America

Imagine a world where prejudice and racism filled the streets of the world. While this is not the world we live in today, it was a part of the world in the 20th century. People would have been treated differently based on how they look. They were yet still of apart of america. This was life for the speaker in the poem “I too sing america” by Langston Hughes. It spoke about the different hardships that african americans had coming to the US and being treated as property with no regard to your feelings. Langston Hughes cited Walt whitman as his greatest influence for his poems. Many people believe he wrote his poem “I too sing america in response to Whitman's “I hear america singing.” Whitman's poem talks about how each person contributes
Whitman's and Hughes poems are in free verse and have no rhyme scheme. The reason behind this is that the free verse is emphasizing freedom and equality. Whitman is talking about how america has freedom and this is what lets everyone contribute to what makes america so great. While Hughes says the african americans currently are not free. America promosies all with freedom but because of the color of some people's skin they are denied that freedom. However he will go against the restraints and hopes soon all will have the freedom and the right to be an american. Another thing is that Whitman uses long lines but each talks about the simple job each person contributes to america. However hughes uses short lines and his story expresses a complex meaning. This shows that he changed Whitman's poem to express the idea that even if a man looks differnt, should he be denied the rights of others. The short lines are also better because of the fact they help to emphasize the importance of each word because there is only a few words he can use to emphasize the importance and the message of his poem. It emphasizes the importance a lot better than Whitman's because of the fact it is not sugarcoated. The sugarcoating on Whitman's makes it more happy connotation but harder to understand the message. This makes it easier to see Hughes ambition and hopes of being treated like an
If you look at the titles of both poems Hughes poem is a direct response to Whitman's. Whitman's poem says “I hear america singing.” Hughes poem responds “I too sing america.” Hughes took Whitman's title which talks about hearing the voice of america and Hughes said all people even the colored are apart of the voice of america. That is because everyone contributes their carols and voice to america since they are a part of it. Not just the white men who have more power over the colored people. Another thing was that Whitman's poem was happy and had a good connotation as he used words like “carol, strong, blithe” while Hughes was more opposite and negative as he used words that would include things like “I am the darker brother”. The negative connotation creates a more darker mood in Hughes poem. This shows that america is not all rainbows. There is a bad part of America that needs to be fixed. In the end Hughes ends off his poem “Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am. And Be Ashamed. The reason he says this at the end of the poem is to show that one day it will be different. There will be no discrimination between different colors and races. His ambition for writing the poem was to try to achieve equality. People will not be judged by the color of their skin or race but by their achievements. Everyone will be able to truely be considered an