Langston Hughes

Writing Performance Task In the poem, “As I Grew Older”, by Langston Hughes, he proves that life has its hardships and sometimes they can be difficult to overcome. The poem describes how there is a major obstacle and how he struggles to overcome it. Langston Hughes conveys that during hard times, one might be in despair, but can get through it with determination and a driven passion to do so. The author conveys despair and a sense of hopelessness throughout the poem by using language strategies and literary devices. For example, “And then the wall rose, rose slowly, slowly.” The author’s use of repetition here puts emphasis on the words “rose” and “slowly”. This describes the wall, which is the obstacle, and how it is rising and he cannot do anything about it, but watch it come in the way of him and his dreams. Therefore, this could put him in an immediate state of despair because of the wall’s interference. Another literary device that …show more content…
Langston used the repetition of the word “sun” to show the sun breaking through the wall and letting in light to help guide him back to his dream, “Into a thousand lights of sun, into a thousand whirling dreams of sun.” The light from the sun is always there, but the wall is blocking it, so when he breaks through the wall he lets in the light. A simile is also used to show the happiness and beauty of him coming closer to getting his dream, “Bright like a sun-my dream.” This literally tells the reader that his dream is the sun, therefore letting in light from the broken wall is basically him finding his dream after being held back by an obstacle. Once he breaks through the wall with determination, the sun comes through and he is able to see his dream again. The author uses more repetition and a simile to show the triumph and happiness that he has gotten over coming so close to his dream