As I Grew Older Langston Hughes

Tommy Hill

1. I chose this poem because it stood out to me. Facing discrimination throughout his life, Hughess continues to describe racism when Hughess writes And then a wall rose, rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream. The wall Hughess refers to is the wall of discrimination. This wall slowly blocked his dream. Hughess describes the blockage as slow to show the many small efforts people used to keep America. I used to be discriminated so thats why I feel so strong about this poem. I also picked this poem because I enjoy reading poetry written by Hughes and this poem seemed relevant to the assignment. I do think this is one of his easier to read poems because the meaning is very literal. I enjoy the simplicity of it as opposed to one of his other pieces, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, which is heavier on metaphors.

2. The message of the poem is: dont be afraid to break the walls in your life, which prevent you from achieving your dream. Those walls exist in everyone's life, which means there are many kinds of walls. Those walls, for example, can be discrimination against women or older people, preventing them from getting a job. Other walls might be an economic problem preventing children from having a successful future. I think that the toughest wall is unsupportive families, preventing their members from achieving their dreams. In conclusion, in his poem Langston Hughes shows us that in his life he fought against racism, which constituted the obstacles in his life. However, he is still giving us the option to choose what the wall means for us: discrimination, economic difficulty or unsupportive family

3. Personally, I feel like hes telling a story about his life. First, he was a child and had dreams, aspirations and things he wanted to be and do when he grew up, but then as he got older, he encountered racism because of his color (wall) and he gives up (lie down in the shadow). He wants to break free, and he wants everyone to help him smash racism so people pf all color can reach their dreams. Thats what I feel like hes saying.

4. This poem talks about a dream being cut off, not believed in, for a while then believed in once again. It applies to all of us and what can happen. Sometimes we have to fight to back with a vengeance to make our dreams happen, if we don't forget it in the chaos of everyday life. There is no obstacle that one cannot overcome with hard work and self-

belief. This poem should be a guide for anybody who feels like life's obstacles are too high to overcome. That is how people feel when they've lost sight of their dreams, so I think this poem is inspirational, thought provoking, and even sorrowful.

5. This poem is very straight forward but there are different literary devices used, one being metaphors. The wall represents the oppression of whites as mentioned earlier. The "thousand dreams of sun" shows that the sun embodies the brightly lit future when the "wall" is finally broken down, and the black people aren't in the shadows anymore. Hughes' choice of diction allows us to see the walls are "thick" and the hands are "dark" to give more clarity on the imagery of the subjects he is talking about.

6. In the poem As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes, there is no rhyme scheme what so ever. There may be end rhyme for three lines because they end in the same end, but other than that, theres nothing else.

It was a long time ago.

I have almost forgotten my dream.

But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun

My dream. And then the wall rose,

Rose slowly,

Slowly, Between me and my dream.

Rose until it touched the sky

The wall.

Shadow.

I am black.

I lie down in the shadow.

No longer the light of my dream before me, Above me.

Only the thick wall.

Only the shadow.

My hands!

My dark hands!

Break through the wall!

Find my dream!

Help me to shatter this darkness,

To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun,

Into a thousand whirling dreams

Of sun!