Comparison Of Harlem And Out, Out

Both Harlem and Out, Out were written during times of war. Out, Out was written during WWI and Harlem was written during WWII. Explain how both poems are related to the idea of war. Also analyze the use of literary devices, notably personification, in both of their works to support your claim. “Out, out” and “Harlem” were written during times of war. With war as the background to their creative expression, both authors wanted to portray different perspectives on a certain issue that comes as a result of war; the loss of innocence. In the poems it is evident that both authors address that their protagonists have lost their innocence as a result of their circumstances, which were influenced by real events in either World War I or II. In “Out, …show more content…
This shorter poem is intentionally broken up into 4 stanzas that are one line shorter than the one before it and it ends with the word “explode” as a reference to a countdown of a bomb detonation. This explosion is relevant to the time of the poem as World War II introduced the concept of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was very effective as a means of sheer intimidation as it showed that people were willing to kill the innocent, as the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not primarily war involved soldiers; they were primarily innocent citizens that did not consent to being sacrificed for any “greater good”. There is a plethora of similes to seemingly unrelated items that can be interpreted as the process of a fruit becoming too ripe on a tree and eventually falling off its branch and exploding its innards on the ground. This idea of something becoming too large and exploding is similar to the fall of the Roman Empire that grew too large for its own capabilities, which is a possibility for any great “empire” when it goes to war. The heavy use of imagery is used to give the poem a more creative and curious tone. Overall the tone of the poem is more anxious and curious in order to create a sense of urgency and this urgency encourages a reflection of one’s own dreams. Langston Hughes probably has the narrator of this poem be a young African American. In fact, it can even be speculated that the narrator could be a young man fresh back from fighting in World War II. African Americans had to fight at in World War II with their non-African American comrades with the same bravery and vigor, but when they returned African Americans still did not receive respect from their war comrades that were not of their race. They still had to suffer from segregation in the physical and social sense heavily, and because of this