Saturday, February 3, 2018

What are two ways that Langston Hughes’s “I, Too” is similar to and different from Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing”?

It is important to identify the authors and understand their history prior to beginning any literary analysis, as it will shape the way readers understand the piece of work.
Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, New York (a suburb outside of the city) and would live a majority of his adult life in Brooklyn, New York City. He was from a large family and began to show artistic prowess at a young age. He was exposed to some of the greatest writers, like Shakespeare and Dante because of his love for the written word. His poem "I Hear America Singing" was published in his 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass.
Langston Hughes was born in 1902 in Missouri and spent the majority of his childhood there until he began moving at around thirteen years old. He traveled around the world doing less-than-glamorous jobs: he was a cook, a busboy, and a launderer. Eventually, he would settle down in Harlem around 1930, where he would spend the majority of his adult life. His poem "I, Too" was published in 1926 and contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, an artistic cultural movement that was working to portray the life of the African American community in the US.
These poems have many similarities and differences, often using the same ideas to contrast each other. Here are two of them:
Both discuss singing. It is not too much of a leap to assume that Hughes would have been aware of Whitman's poem and was using this precise word to dialogue with Whitman. When looking at this word, it's worthwhile to ask: would Hughes have meant singing in the same way that Whitman did?
Both are about pride. Whitman's poem is about everyday, ordinary people singing "America" as they go about their daily life. Hughes begins his poem by saying, "I, too, sing America" and goes on to state that he is sent to eat in the kitchen when company comes but that "tomorrow" he will sit at the table with everyone else, because he "too, [is] America." Hughes is proud and he will no longer hide himself. Is this pride the same type of pride that Whitman portrayed? Is it different? If so, how?
https://poets.org/poet/langston-hughes

https://poets.org/poet/walt-whitman

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