POEM

A Theme for English B
In “A Theme for English B” Langston Hughes strays far from the norm in topic and structure. Relating very closely to Langston Hughes’s life, “A Theme for English B” tells of a young African American man at a predominantly white University. The “college on the hill above Harlem” refers to Columbia where Hughes spent one year. While at Columbia Hughes was the subjected to a great amount of racism, but also found his interest in the Harlem area while there.

The poem lacks much of any structure in rhyme or meter. Instead it is a rather free flowing speech that uses rhyme very unusually. The professor giving the assignment speaks in a very simple aabb rhythm that shows us he speaks in a educated and proper manner that may even be leaning towards condescending. The speaker however has a very different voice. Rhyme is still present, but is in no clear pattern. He speaks in free verse with rhymes hidden within lines, alliteration, and slant rhymes, in his borderline rant.

The speaker in the poem like Hughes has an unquestionably different college experience compared any of the white students at the time. The Instructor gives an assignment to “Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you—then, it will be true.” The speaker retorts, “I wonder if it’s that simple?” It is not the paper that the speaker is questioning it is life. Life itself is almost never simple for someone living in a hostile and prejudiced setting. Coming from communities almost sure to have had very large African American populations such as Winston-Salem and Durham, the speaker knows he is not going to be readily accepted at a white institution. Instead he looks to Harlem for support, “I hear you: hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.” Harlem stands for freedom. It is a place where African Americans are free to express themselves whether through music, art, or in the case of Hughes and the speaker writing.

The point of the paper the speaker is writing isn’t to bemoan fate, but instead to show the heart of a man who will not be dispirited. The speaker acknowledges that he is different, but focuses on what makes him just like any other man. Whether it is a function necessary to survive or just a luxury for personal enjoyment, he is very much as capable as any other person. He can do anything a white man can do, but no matter what he writes, “Being me, it will not be white.” What he does have that he stresses to his professor is the patriotism that all Americans share. Some would rather not be linked to a man of his color and he would rather not be linked to them, but patriotism is above that. People must learn from each other whether it is how to write an essay or how to accept another person as an equal.
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