18 pages • 36 minutes read
Langston HughesI, Too
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1926A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman (1860)
Whitman’s poem served as an inspiration for Hughes. Whitman’s poem celebrates both the individualism and the group identity of Americans. Throughout the poem, Whitman describes people singing as they work autonomously, owning their labor and their profit. But at the end of the poem, everyone comes together, and collectively, everyone’s work and contribution to the song forms the broader American song. Whitman focuses on blue collar workers, but he does not include the voices of slaves.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes (1921)
Hughes’s most famous poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is a celebration of the legacy of African American art and culture. Hughes gives power and agency to historical societies of Black people, from Africa to America. Hughes inverts the White and western historical trope that whiteness represents progress and civilization while blackness represents primitiveness. The poem creates a link between the heritage of African Americans and their present-day situation in America.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes (1951)
“Harlem” is both about the legacy and promise of the Harlem Renaissance as well as the consequences of denying people their dreams. The most famous line of the poem comes at the end when Hughes asks if a dream deferred will eventually explode. This line foreshadows the breakthrough of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, but it also speaks to the discontent and anger that continues to permeate oppressed groups in America who continually fight for equality but are continually denied.
“Freedom” by Langston Hughes (1941)
Similar to “I, Too,” “Freedom” focuses on the oppressed person’s responsibility in the fight for freedom and equality. Hughes argues that freedom will not come with time, and he attacks the notion that those who are oppressed must wait. Instead, Hughes argues that freedom must come now, that he deserves freedom, and that freedom will only come if he fights for it. This notion would later be echoed by Martin Luther King, Jr., when he argued in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that “justice delayed is justice denied.”
Further Literary Resources
“What Langston Hughes’ Powerful Poem ‘I, Too’ Tells Us About America’s Past and Present” by David C. Ward (2016)
In this analysis of “I, Too,” David Ward focuses on the word “too” and its many meanings within the context of the poem. Specifically, Ward compares it to the word “two,” and within that comparison, he is able to expand the context of the poem. Ward connects the word “two” and the poem’s content to Lincoln’s “A House Divided” speech, which is all about the need for unification between two opposing factions. Ward also connects “two” to W.E.B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness, which is the idea that Black Americans are torn between two versions of themselves: a Black person and an American. Ward argues that Hughes’s focus on the word “too” indicates a subtle nod to some of these issues pertaining to African Americans. He also provides more analysis on the house and table metaphor.
“Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance: Crash Course Literature 215” by John Green (2014)
In this episode of Crash Course, author John Green focuses on the background of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes’s contributions to it, and the broader civil rights movement of the 20th century. Green also discusses Hughes’s philosophy of art and the relationship between art and race. Green then analyzes a number of Hughes’s poems, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Harlem.”
A poet, Hughes biographer, and former dean pay homage to Hughes after the 110th anniversary of Hughes’s birth. They discuss, among other things, how they approach teaching students about Hughes’s work; Hughes’s determination to provide for himself financially through poetry, and Hughes’s trip to Africa, where he worked in a kitchen on a ship.
Listen to Poem
Langston Hughes reads his poem. Notice his pacing, how he emphasizes enjambment and builds his tone as he progresses through each line.
Related Titles
By Langston Hughes
