The poem that I choose to study was Third Degree by Langston Hughes. I first explicated the poem myself and then I researched other explications on the poem. The major differences between my explication and the others was the background information on Hughes and the connotative meanings. When I first choose Third Degree, I did not know a thing about the author, time period, or even the content of the poem. It had an interesting title and that is why I choose it. After the first time I analyzed it, I established the general idea that it was about some sort of tortured or violent situation. I inferred that the “Face like jack-o’-lanterns” referred to the speaker having holes in his face like a carved pumpkin. I also inferred that the last stanza
