The Theme Analysis of Four of Langston Hughes' Poems and Four of Countee Cullen's Poems.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis tema dari empat puisi Langston Hughes yang berjudul “I Dream a World”, “Ruby Brown”, “Merry-Go-Round” dan “A New Song” melalui diksi. Selain itu, saya juga menganalisis tema dari empat puisi Countee Cullen yang berjudul “Incident”, “Uncle Jim”, “Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song (A poem to American poets)” dan “A Brown Girl Dead” yang juga dianalisis melalui diksi. Kedelapan puisi tersebut menggambarkan diskriminasi yang dialami oleh orang-orang berkulit hitam, dan diungkapkan oleh Langston Hughes dan Countee Cullen melalui kata-kata yang berhubungan dengan diskriminasi.

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APPENDICES

Poems by Langston Hughes

I Dream a World

I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn

I dream a world where all 5

Will know sweet freedom’s way,

Where greed no longer saps the soul Nor avarice blights our day.

A world I dream where black or white,

Whatever race you be, 10

Will share the bounties of the earth And every man is free,

Where wretchedness will hang its head And joy, like a pearl,

Attends the needs of all mankind- 15

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Ruby Brown

She was young and beautiful And golden like the sunshine That warmed her body. And because she was colored

Mayville had no place to over her, 5

Nor fuel for the clean flame joy That tried to burn within her soul.

One day, sitting on old Mrs. Latham’s back porch Polishing the silver,

She asked herself two questions

And they run something like this: 10

What can a colored girl do

On the money from a white woman’s kitchen?

And ain’t there joy in this town Now the street down by the river

Know more about this pretty Ruby Brown, 15 And the sinister shuttered houses of the bottoms

Hold a yellow girl

Seeking an answer to her questions. The good church folk do not mention

Her name anymore. 20

But the white men,

Habitués of the high shuttered houses, Pay more money to her now

Than they ever did before,

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Merry-Go-Round

COLORED CHILD AT CARNIVAL Where is the Jim Crow section On this merry-go-round Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from

White and colored 5

Can’t sit side by side.

Down south on the train

There’s a Jim Crow.

On the bus we’re put in the back--

But there ain’t no back 10 To a merry-go-round!

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A New Song

I speak in the name of the black millions Awakening to action

Let all others keep silent a moment I have this word to bring,

This thing to say, 5

This song to sing: Bitter was the day When I bowed my back

Beneath the slaver’s whip.

That day is past. 10

Bitter was the day

When I saw my children unschooled,

My young man without a voice in the world, My woman taken as the body-toys

Of a thieving people. 15

That day is past.

Bitter was the day, I say,

When the lyncher’s rope

Hung about my neck,

And the fire scorched my feet, 20

And the oppressors had no pity, And only in the sorrow songs Relief was found.

That day is past.

I know full well now 25

Only my own hands, Dark as the earth,

Can make my earth-dark body free. O thieves, exploiters, killers,

No longer shall you say 30

With arrogant eyes and scornful lips:

“You are my servant,

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I, the free

That day is past- 35

For now,

In many mouths-

Dark mouths where red tongues burn And white teeth gleam-

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Poems by Countee Cullen Incident

Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean

Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small, 5

And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out

His tongue, and called me, “Nigger.”

I saw the whole of Baltimore

From May until December; 10

Of all the things that happened there

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Uncle Jim

“White folks is white,” says uncle Jim; “A platitude,” I sneer;

And then I tell him so is milk, And the froth upon his beer.

His heart walled up with bitterness, 5 He smokes his pungent pipe,

And nods at me as if to say,

“Young fool, you’ll soon be ripe!”

I have a friend who eats his heart

Always with grief of mine, 10

Who drinks my joys as tipplers drain Deep goblets filled with wine.

I wonder why here at his side, Face-in-the-grass with him,

My mind should stray the Grecian urn 15

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Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song (A poem to American poets)

I SAID:

Now will the poets sing, The cries go thundering Their cries go thundering

Like blood and tears 5

Into the nation’s ears,

Like lightning dart

Into the nation’s heart.

Against disease and death and all things fell,

And war, 10

Their strophes rise and swell To jar

The foe smug in his citadel.

Remembering their sharp and pretty

Tunes for Sacco and Vanzetti, 15

I said:

Here too’s a cause divinely spun

For those whose eyes are on the sun, Here in epitome

Is all disgrace 20

And epic wrong. Like wine to brace

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Surely, I said,

Now will the poets sing. 25

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A Brown Girl Dead

With two white roses on her breast, White candles at head and feet, Dark Madonna on the grave she rest; Lord Death has found her sweet.

Her mother pawned her wedding ring 5

To lay her out in white;

She’d be so proud she’d dance and sing

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Biography

Biography of Langston Hughes

James Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. He begins to write poetry in the eighth grade when he was in Central High School in Cleveland. Langston Hughes gained fame as a poet during the burgeoning of the arts known as the Harlem renaissance

Besides being known as a poet, he was also known as a novelist, columnist,

playwright, and also essayist. Langston Hughes work’s was influenced by Paul

Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman. He was a prolific writer. He wrote sixteen books of poem, two novels, three collections of short stories, and four

volume of “editorial” and “documentary” fiction, twenty plays, children’s poetry,

musical, and plays three autobiography, a dozen radio and television scripts and dozens of magazines articles. “The Negro Speaks of River” was his first published poem, and also one of his most famous. Hughes’ first volume of poetry, The Weary Blues, appeared in 1926. His first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

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Biography of Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen was born on May 30, 1903. Cullen was born with the name Countee LeRoy Porter and was abandoned by his parents at birth. Between high school and his graduation from Harvard, Cullen was the most popular black poet and virtually the most popular black literary figure in America. Countee Cullen had achieved considerable literary fame during the era known as the New Negro or Harlem Renaissance.

Countee Cullen was known as a poet, anthologist, novelist, translator,

children’s writer, and playwright. He wrote most of the poems for his first three

volumes: Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927). Cullen won more major literary prizes than any other black writers of the 1920s: first prizes in the Witter Bynner Poetry contest in 1925, Poetry magazine’s John Reed Memorial Prizes, the Amy Spingarn Award of the Crisis magazine, second prizes in Opportunity magazine’s first poetry contest, and second prizes in the poetry contest of Psalms. In addition, he was the second black to win a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was also working on a musical with Anna Bontemps called St. Louis Woman (based

on Bontemps’s novel God Sends Sunday) at the time of his death.

Cullen died of blood high and uremic poisoning in New York City on January 9, 1946. Being private about his life, Cullen left behind no autobiography.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Racial discrimination is “to treat differently a person or a group of people

based on their race origin” (“Racial Discrimination”) A clear example of

discrimination towards black people in America in 1920’s is that “Kentucky required separate schools, and also that no text book would be issued to a black would ever be reissued or redistributed, they were also prohibited interracial

marriage” (“Segregation”).

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American music particularly blues and jazz. This sets his poetry apart from that of other writers, and it allowed him to experiment with a very rhythmic free verse” (Langston Hughes Biography). Langston Hughes’ poems that I will discussin my thesis are “I Dream a World”, “Ruby Brown”, “Merry-Go-Round” and “A New Song”. I choose to analyze the four poems in my thesis since they closely deal with discrimination towards black people.

Countee Cullen is a poet who attains fame “during the era known as the

New Negro or Harlem Renaissance” (Early). Moreover, Cullen also was known as

the most popular black poet and black literary figure in Dewitt Clinton High School. While in high school, Cullen won his first contest, a citywide competition, with the poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Life” (Early). At New York University, he wrote most of the poems for his first three volumes: Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927) (Early). Countee Cullen was “a

romantic lyric poet” (Johnson). Cullen’s poems that I will discuss in my thesis are

entitled “Incident”, “Uncle Jim”, “Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song (A poem to American poets)” and “A Brown Girl Dead”. I choose to analyze the four poems in my thesis as they deal with discrimination towards black people.

In my thesis, I am going to analyze the themes of Langston Hughes and

Countee Cullen’s poems. All of their poems are concerned with discrimination

towards black people. The definition of theme is “the central concept develops in

a poem” (Reaske 42). I will analyze the theme of the poems through diction,

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1. What is the theme of each poem? 2. How is the theme revealed?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

1. To show the theme of each poem. 2. To show how the theme is revealed.

METHOD OF RESEARCH

I conduct library research for my thesis. First, I read the poems. After that, I analyze these poems through the dictions. And then, I search for a number of references from books and Internet websites. In the end, I draw conclusion from my thesis.

ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I am going to draw a conclusion on my analysis of four of Langston Hughes’s poems and four of Countee Cullen’s poems revealed through

diction. Four of Langston Hughes’ poems that I have analyzed in Chapter Two

are: “I Dream a World”, “Ruby Brown”, “Merry-Go-Round” and “A New Song.” Four of Countee Cullen’s poems that I have analyzed in the previous chapter are: “Incident”, “Uncle Jim”, “Scottsboro, Too, Is Worth Its Song (A poem to

American poets)” and “A Brown Girl Dead.”

There are several similarities between Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. First, they are both black people who come from the New Negro or Harlem Renaissance era, and they write poems about discrimination performed by white people towards black people. Secondly, in writing poems both Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen use simple words that are easily understood, in relation to discrimination. For example, in “I Dream a World”, Hughes uses the

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Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen use contrasting words in their poems. For example in “I Dream a World”, Hughes uses the words “black” and

“white”, while in “Uncle Jim”, Cullen uses the words “bitter” and “joy.”

There are also several differences between the poems written by Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. The first, it concerns the speakers’ attitudes in their

poems. The speakers in Langston Hughes’s poems show optimistic attitudes towards discrimination, which is because Hughes was born and grew up in a multicultural environment that it made him realize that “both black and white

people are equal in many aspects of life” (“Langston Hughes: Childhood”). On the

other hand, the speakers in Countee Cullen’s poems show pessimistic attitude towards discrimination, because Cullen was “raised and educated in a white

people community” (“Countee Cullen”), which is why he thinks like white person,

who thinks that it is impossible for black people to be free from discrimination. In addition, Hughes and Cullen have different styles in writing poems. Langston Hughes’ poems are conversational, while Countee Cullen’s poems are

narrative. For example, in Hughes’ “Merry-Go-Round”, Hughes includes a conversation between the speaker and a white boy, while, in Countee Cullen’s

“Incident”, the speaker narrates the discrimination that took place in his or her life

in details.

In my opinion, Hughes is successful in presenting the issue of discrimination in his poems. Four of Langston Hughes’ poems that show the spirit

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message that one should not easily give up. Moreover, one has to be optimistic and brave in order to survive from any hardships in life, such as discrimination.

Cullen is also successful in presenting the issue of discrimination. Through four of Countee Cullen’s poems that I have analyzed, one is aware of how

discrimination may have a destructive impact on one’s life. For example, in

“Incident,” the discrimination that the narrator experiences makes him or her become pessimistic because he or she is burdened by the discrimination he or she has experienced in the past. Even though I disagree with the pessimistic attitudes of the narrators in Cullen’s poems, I believe one may learn to understand why

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References:

Reaske, Christopher Russel. How to Analyze Poetry. New York: Monarch Press, 1996.

Internet Websites:

“Countee Cullen.” Poets. 2011. 30 May 2011.

<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/55>

“Discrimination.” The Free Dictionary. 2010. 31 Mar. 2010.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/discrimination>

Early, Gerald. “Modern American Poetry.” English Illinois. 1997. 16 Aug. 2010.

<http://www.englishillinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/Cullen/life.htm>

Gaston, Charlie. “The Meaning of a Single White Rose.” eHow. 2011. 11 May

2011.

<http://www.ehow.com/about_5152759_meaning-single-white-rose.html>Hamilton, Carol Vanderveer. “American Writers and the Sacco

-Vanzetti case.” English Illinois. 2011. 18 May. 2011.

<http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/millay/hamilton.htm>

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< http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.htm>

Kennedy, Randall. “A Note on the Word “Nigger.” Harp Week. 1999. 20 Apr.

2011.

<http://www.civilwarliterature.com/01introduction/thenword.htm>

Kindig, Jessie. “Scottsboro Boys, Trial and Defense Campaign (1931–1937).”

Black Past. 2011. 23 May 2011.

<http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/scottsboro-boys-trial-and-defense-campaign-1931-1937 >

“Langston Hughes Biography.” Kansas Heritage. 2011. 30 Jun. 2011.

<http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html>

“Langston Hughes: Childhood.” Shmoop. 2011. 1 Jun. 2011.

< http://www.shmoop.com/langston-hughes/childhood.html>

“Langston Hughes Timeline.” Shmoop. 2011. 24 Jun. 2011.

< http://www.shmoop.com/langston-hughes/timeline.html>

“Merry-go-round.” The Free Dictionary. 2011. 6 Apr. 2011.

<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/merry-go-round>

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

“Pessimism.” Cambridge Dictionary Online. 2011. 20 Apr. 2011.

<http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pessimism>

Pilgrim, David. “What was Jim Crow.” Ferris State University. 2000. 3 Apr. 2011

<http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm>

Richard, Cicely. “Poetry Analysis: Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats.” Helium:

Poets & Poetry. 2011. 13 May. 2011.

<http://www.helium.com/items/1105402-ode-on-a-grecian-urn-by-john-keats>

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<http://www.kawvalley.k12.ks.us/brown_v_board/segregation.htm>

“The History of Sacco and Vanzetti.” Torre Maggiore. 2000. 2 May 2011.

<http://www.torremaggiore.com/saccoevanzetti/english.html>

“The Precept of Black Inferiority.” Associated Content. 2011. 20 May 2011.

<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2555309/the_precept_of_black _inferiority.html?cat=37>

“What are Stereotypes about Black People?” Answer. 2011. 3 Mar. 2011.

<http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100801150621AAcOIU 3>

Primary Texts:

“A Brown Girl Dead.” Poetry Foundation. 2010. 10 Aug. 2010.

<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171330>

“Incident.” Poetry Foundation. 2010. 10 Aug. 2010.

<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171327>

“Merry-Go-Round.” Poems About. 2010. 30 Mar. 2010.

<http://www.poemsabout.com/poet/langston-hughes/page-11/>

“Ruby Brown.” Random House. 2004. 30 Mar. 2010.

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<http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/protest/text11/cullenscotts boro.pdf>

“Uncle Jim.” Poetry Foundation. 2010. 10 Aug. 2010.