Belief and perseverance are the eternal children of struggle, sculpted throughout the ages by poets, poets like Langston Hughes, who wrote “I, Too” and “Refugee in America” from the depths of black discrimination. “I, Too” describes an African American and his reaction towards black oppression, while “Refugee in America” speaks of the African American longing for true freedom. Eugenia W. Collier, like Hughes, captured the essence of black discrimination, through her poem “From the Dark Tower”. Taking a step back, “Courage”, by Anne Sexton, describes the trials of life in general, from birth until death, the hardships and the milestones. While human pain, tribulation, and difficulty are evident within each poem, a common overlying theme exists.
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Collier, that captures the hardships of black oppression, yet typifies the African American attitude toward their strife. Collier begins her poem by lamenting how the African American “plants while others reap”, and how “lesser men…hold their brothers cheap;” (Collier 1-2). These lines typify black oppression after slavery describing how white society handicapped the African American populace to laboring positions, then paid them little, if at all, ultimately driving them into the ground and “reaped” all the benefit. Collier then subtly turns the meaning of the poem through repetition. Within the first stanza of “From the Dark Tower”, the one which talks of oppression, every second line begins with the idea of not yielding, and believing that the end will come: “We shall not always” (Collier 1), “Not always” (Collier 2), “Not everlasting” (Collier 4), and then finally the entire last line states “We were not made to eternally weep” (Collier 8), concretizing the human condition to remain steadfast in the face of difficulty. Collier then ends her poem: “So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds/ And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.” With this Collier confirms that humanity will never give up, humanity will “wait” in belief, tending to “seeds” that will through perseverance grow into great …show more content…
“I, Too” establishes a tone of suffering early: “I am the darker brother./ They send me to eat in the kitchen/ When company comes,” (Hughes 2-4). Hughes symbolizes all African Americans in the his poem as “the darker brother” and explains how they were treated as second class citizens, shamed by their employees. African Americans were degraded in American society for almost a century after the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery. Being degraded and dehumanized by whites, the African American populace could easily have yielded and behaved the way they were treated, yielding to their challenge. Hughes then rises the black banner of backbone and drive stating, “but I laugh/ And eat well,/ And grow strong” (Hughes 5-7). Hughes describes how the African Americans during a dire time “laughed” off the hate, and ate and grew strong, ready to fight for survival rather than roll over and die. Finally, Hughes, much like Collier previously, declares that behind African American suffering, true hope and belief grew. “Tomorrow/ I’ll be at the table/ When company comes” (Hughes 8-10). “Tomorrow” represents the future, and one should note how Hughes places this word alone to emphasize how African Americans did not view the future as some afterthought to forget; rather, the future was a bright beacon that lit up a dark path. Then Hughes follows that word with “I’ll be at the table”, he does not
Collier, that captures the hardships of black oppression, yet typifies the African American attitude toward their strife. Collier begins her poem by lamenting how the African American “plants while others reap”, and how “lesser men…hold their brothers cheap;” (Collier 1-2). These lines typify black oppression after slavery describing how white society handicapped the African American populace to laboring positions, then paid them little, if at all, ultimately driving them into the ground and “reaped” all the benefit. Collier then subtly turns the meaning of the poem through repetition. Within the first stanza of “From the Dark Tower”, the one which talks of oppression, every second line begins with the idea of not yielding, and believing that the end will come: “We shall not always” (Collier 1), “Not always” (Collier 2), “Not everlasting” (Collier 4), and then finally the entire last line states “We were not made to eternally weep” (Collier 8), concretizing the human condition to remain steadfast in the face of difficulty. Collier then ends her poem: “So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds/ And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.” With this Collier confirms that humanity will never give up, humanity will “wait” in belief, tending to “seeds” that will through perseverance grow into great …show more content…
“I, Too” establishes a tone of suffering early: “I am the darker brother./ They send me to eat in the kitchen/ When company comes,” (Hughes 2-4). Hughes symbolizes all African Americans in the his poem as “the darker brother” and explains how they were treated as second class citizens, shamed by their employees. African Americans were degraded in American society for almost a century after the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery. Being degraded and dehumanized by whites, the African American populace could easily have yielded and behaved the way they were treated, yielding to their challenge. Hughes then rises the black banner of backbone and drive stating, “but I laugh/ And eat well,/ And grow strong” (Hughes 5-7). Hughes describes how the African Americans during a dire time “laughed” off the hate, and ate and grew strong, ready to fight for survival rather than roll over and die. Finally, Hughes, much like Collier previously, declares that behind African American suffering, true hope and belief grew. “Tomorrow/ I’ll be at the table/ When company comes” (Hughes 8-10). “Tomorrow” represents the future, and one should note how Hughes places this word alone to emphasize how African Americans did not view the future as some afterthought to forget; rather, the future was a bright beacon that lit up a dark path. Then Hughes follows that word with “I’ll be at the table”, he does not