Langston Hughes 7 th Grade Conyers Middle School

Langston Hughes 7 th Grade Conyers Middle School Facts taken from shmoop. com

Introduction

What Langston Hughes did. . . and why you should care "I live in Harlem, New York City, " poet Langston Hughes once wrote of himself. "I am unmarried. I like 'Tristan, ' goat's milk, short novels, lyric poems, heat, simple folk, boats and bullfights; I dislike 'Aida, ' parsnips, long novels, narrative poems, cold, pretentious folk, buses and bridges. "

Turn and Talk Reread the passage. Discuss one thing you have in common with Langston Hughes and explain why. Or, discuss one thing you have an opposite opinion about and explain why.

This was Langston Hughes—a writer of simple, elegant images; an observer of details; an artist who approached his work with warmth and humor. More than anything else, he celebrated the beauty of life as he saw it lived around him, particularly in the black American community to which he belonged and which he loved passionately. In a career cut short by his death from prostate cancer in 1967, Hughes wrote poetry, short stories, novels, plays, biographies, and memoirs that documented black American life.

He was a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920 s-era flourishing of black arts and culture that took place in his New York City neighborhood. Before it was a slogan, Hughes knew that black was beautiful. And, in all his writing, he fearlessly advocated for those who other mainstream artists pushed to the sidelines.

Take Three Take three minutes to write about the following: A time when you “fearlessly advocated” or fought for someone who was “pushed to the sidelines. ”

Hughes has often been called the poet laureate of Harlem, the writer who, more than any other, captured the culture's moods and passions. But his poetry was never provincial (local). By speaking for Harlem, Hughes spoke of truths that applied to all humanity. His song was set to a Harlem jazz beat, but he sang for us all.

Biography

In 1920, shortly after graduating from high school, a young African-American man named Langston Hughes traveled by train to Mexico to visit his estranged father. The elder Hughes had departed the United States some years before, alienated by his dislike of American racism and of black American culture at the time. His father's distaste for their people baffled Langston Hughes because, as he wrote later, "I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much. "

This simple statement belies (contradicts) the breadth (scale) of Hughes's career as a poet, novelist, essayist, and general poet laureate of the black experience during much of the twentieth century. In 1967, the year he died, Hughes told a journal, "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely (indirectly) that of all humankind. " Hughes refused to accept the racism practiced in the United States and internalized by people like his father. He was raised by his grandmother, a descendant of a proud line of distinguished black Americans, and he saw in his people beauty, power, and grace.

Luckily for Langston, within a few years of his visit to Mexico, he would find himself at the epicenter (focal point) of a cultural flowering in New York City's historically black neighborhood of Harlem. Hughes's poetry and prose celebrated the Harlem Renaissance and all that it stood for. His clear, lyrical language showed boundless creativity, as evidenced by the haul of prizes he collected for his work. But, as he made clear in his famed essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, " Hughes did not write to please any critic, white or black. He wrote to capture the beauty and pain he saw in and around him. He made us look at race—and ourselves—differently.

Think-Pair-Share Think of a time when you disagreed with a parent or guardian’s beliefs. How did you react? Pair up with a partner and share your answers.

Childhood

Langston Hughes was born 1 February 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, the son of James Nathaniel Hughes and Caroline Mercer Langston. In a memoir, Hughes lamented (groaned), "unfortunately, I am not black"—meaning of 100% African heritage—but rather "brown, " or of mixed race. Both of Hughes's parents were of mixed-race descent. His non-black forebears included a white slaveholder who fathered children with a woman he owned, a French trader, and a Cherokee Indian woman. Hughes's mother came from a distinguished family of respected black educators and activists. Langston Hughes's great-uncle on his mother's side, John Mercer Langston, was the first black Congressman from Virginia. His grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston, attended Oberlin College at a time when few women of any race were able to pursue higher education. Mary Patterson Langston's first husband died in John Brown's Ferry, and her second husband—Langston Hughes's maternal grandfather—was an activist for abolition and black education.

Hughes's parents split when he was very young and his father moved to Cuba, and then to Mexico. His mother traveled in search of work while he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother. As Hughes recalled in his memoir, Mary Patterson Langston often took her small grandson in her lap and told him stories about abolitionists and courageous slaves who struggled for their freedom. Her tales impressed upon Hughes the nobility (goodness) of black people, and the importance of stoicism (patience)—and even laughter—in the face of hardship. "Through my grandmother's stories always life moved, moved heroically toward an end. Nobody ever cried in my grandmother's stories. They worked, or schemed, or fought. But no crying, " Hughes wrote. "When my grandmother died, I didn't cry, either. Something about my grandmother's stories (without her ever having said so) taught me the uselessness of crying about anything. " The use of humor as a shield from pain marked Hughes's work, in his mordant (sarcastic) wit (humor) and in titles like Not Without Laughter and Laughing to Keep From Crying.

Hughes had a rootless and often lonely childhood, living with his grandmother in Kansas and then with family friends after her death in 1912. He found refuge in literature. "I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books—where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas, " he wrote. In 1914, Hughes moved with his mother and new stepfather to Lincoln, Illinois. He was elected class poet at his eighth-grade graduation in 1916, an honor he received with some skepticism (doubt). "I was a victim of a stereotype, " he noted with characteristic tongue-in-cheek (not meant to be taken seriously) humor. "There were only two of us Negro kids in the whole class and our English teacher was always stressing the importance of rhythm in poetry. Well, everyone knows—except us—that all Negroes have rhythm, so they elected me class poet. I felt I couldn't let my white classmates down, and I've been writing poetry ever since. " Soon after, the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

After graduating from high school in Cleveland in 1920, Hughes decided to travel to Mexico to be with his father. James Nathaniel Hughes had left the United States to escape racism, but also to distance himself from the African-American community, whose culture he disdained. His son, who felt such pride in his African. American heritage, found this self-loathing (self-hatred) baffling (confusing). "I didn't understand it, " Hughes later wrote, of his father's dislike of black culture, "because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much. " On the train ride down to Mexico, as the car crossed the Mississippi River, Hughes looked out the window and thought of all that rivers had meant to black people—slaves sold down the river in pre-Civil War South, the Euphrates and the Nile in Africa—and wrote the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers“.

Pick One Respond to one of the following through written, lyrical, or artistic representation (10 min): 1. 2. 3. 4. The importance of self-identity The importance of perseverance The importance of being rooted in something The importance of finding refuge in something

Young Poet

Hughes's father had agreed to pay for his college tuition, on the (soon-abandoned) condition that he study engineering. In 1921, Hughes thus set off for Columbia University, located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City. Just on the other side of the island was Harlem. Black residents had been drawn to that northeast Manhattan neighborhood ever since an enterprising black real estate agent, Phillip Payton, Jr. , advertised the mostly-vacant area as a black Mecca following the 1903 real estate crash. By the time Langston Hughes arrived, Harlem was in the throes of the thriving period of arts and literature known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Class Discussion Let’s discuss a time when your parents, guardians, or other family members tried to push their dreams on you just like Langston’s dad. What was the dream? How did they try to convince you the dream was for you? Did you believe in their dream for you? Why or why not?

Hughes fell in love with Harlem, but not with Columbia. He felt that the mostly-white institution was discriminatory. He quit just one year after he began— 1922—and instead took a job as a crewman aboard the S. S. Malone so he could see the world. Hughes traveled to West Africa and to Europe. He spent six months working as a busboy in Paris, a city with a thriving community of African-American expatriate artists who found France less racist than their home country. All the while, Hughes wrote poetry. His influences included. Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, and Laurence Dunbar, poets whose elegant language and images explored issues of identity.

In 1924, Hughes decided to head back to the States, to Washington, D. C. He landed an office job as a personal assistant to a scholar at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, but soon decided that he preferred menial work that left more time and energy for his poetry. Hughes was working as a busboy at the Waldman Park Hotel when he noticed the poet Vachel Lindsay, one of his favorites, dining alone. As he was clearing the plates away, Hughes slipped a stack of his own poetry onto Lindsay's table. Gutsy(bold)? Sure. But it worked. Lindsay read the work and put Hughes in touch with editors at Alfred A. Knopf publishing house. Langston Hughes was about to make it.

What Would You Do? If you were Langston Hughes, would you have been bold enough to put a stack of your own poetry on a well-known poet’s table? Why or why not? What could have happened if Langston failed to take advantage of that opportunity?

Harlem Renaissance

In 1926, Hughes's professional life took off. Knopf published his first book, a poetry collection entitled. The Weary Blues. Along with a few other writers, including Zora Neale Hurston and Wallace Thurman, Hughes launched a literary magazine entitled Fire!! A Quarterly Devoted to the Younger Negro. Among the many literary journals circulating Harlem at the time, Fire!! was an important (albeit [although]short-lived) outlet for emerging black writers' work. He also published a groundbreaking essay called "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. " The essay outlined his philosophy on art and what he saw as the quintessential problem facing black artists:

One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, "I want to be a poet—not a Negro poet, " meaning, I believe, "I want to write like a white poet"; meaning subconsciously, "I would like to be a white poet"; meaning behind that, "I would like to be white. " And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet has ever been afraid of being

The following year saw the publication of his second poetry collection, Fine Clothes to the Jew. By this time, some black critics were upset by Hughes's work. They felt that, by writing poems about the common man, Hughes was highlighting negative aspects of black life —the urban slums, the nightclubs, the streets. Hughes essentially responded that he couldn't care less. He had already given his critics their answer. As he wrote in "The Negro Artist:

"We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too. […] If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves. ”

Hughes loved the street and all its characters, and celebrated them in his work. "The low-down folks, the so-called common element, and they are the majority —may the Lord be praised!" he wrote. "The people who have their hip of gin on Saturday nights and are not too important to themselves or the community, or too well fed, or too learned to watch the lazy world go round. […] Their joy runs, bang! into ecstasy. Their religion soars to a shout. "

Before it was a catchphrase, Hughes knew that black was beautiful. In "Harlem Sweeties" he celebrated the tones of black skin: "Molasses taffy/ Coffee and cream/ Licorice, clove, cinnamon/ To a honey-brown dream. " After centuries of poets who described darkness as insidious and foreboding, Hughes recast it as beautiful in "Dream Variations": "Then rest at cool evening/ Beneath a tall tree/ While night comes on gently, / Dark like me/ That is my dream!" His goal was to shed the internalized racism and loathing that he felt too many African-Americans possessed. "To my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering 'I want to be white, ' hidden in the aspirations of his people, to 'Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro—and

In 1929, Hughes received his bachelor's degree from historically-black Lincoln University. The following year, his semi-autobiographical novel Not Without Laughter was published. It followed a young black man named Sandy Rodgers through his itinerant childhood in the Midwest. The book was a critical success, and Hughes received the Harmon Gold Medal for Literature.

The Harlem Renaissance Click here for more on the Harlem Renaissance! Renaissance=rebirth Rebirth= a renewed existence or growth Think of your own life. What area could use a rebirth? What have you been yearning to transform? Create a mural in your groups of your rebirths. Be as creative and unique as you like. Everyone must do their part (15 min).

Political Journey

In 1932, Hughes traveled with a group of African-American artists to the Soviet Union to write a film about the treatment of black people in the United States. The film was never made but, like many African-American intellectuals in the 1930 s, Hughes found himself drawn to communism, a party whose views on racial equality were more liberal than mainstream American politics. Though he never formally joined the Communist party, some of Hughes's poetry took on a radical tone, and he began exploring deeper—and often darker—issues in his writing.

Throughout his professional life, Hughes's creativity expressed itself in a wide range of genres. In 1934, he published the short story collection The Ways of White Folks, an at-times bitter reflection on race relations. He traveled to Spain to cover the civil war as a correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper. With Zora Neale Hurston, he wrote The Mulatto, a play that dealt with issues of racial identity (the two writers, once close friends, split over a dispute on the play's authorship). He also founded three theater companies in the late 1930 s and early 1940 s, in Harlem, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Though few of Hughes's own plays were commercially successful, the companies became important outlets for other black actors and dramatists.

By World War II, Hughes's politics had drifted back toward the center. In 1940, he published the first volume of his memoir, The Big Sea , in which he confessed, "my best poems were all written when I felt the worst. " He also began writing a regular column for the weekly Chicago Defender newspaper, where he created a character that would become one of his best-loved: Jesse B. Simple. The fictional Simple was a plainspoken Harlem resident who exchanged frank (honest) observations on life and race with a buddy at a local bar (Hughes was inspired in part by a man he had actually met at a Harlem drinking spot). The Chicago Defender columns were eventually compiled into five separate books, one of which— 1954's Simple Takes a Wife – received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for its exploration of racial issues.

In 1951, Hughes published the poetry collection Montage of a Dream Deferred. The book contained the poem "Harlem. " The poem's powerful imagery and simple, haunting language was an anthem of Harlem's simmering desires, anger, and tensions. It is best remembered for its opening lines: "What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun? "

What’s Your Anthem? Langston Hughes’s writing was considered the anthem of the life he experienced in Harlem. Basically, Langston’s writings were songs of loyalty or devotion to humanity and its uphill battle to equality. What’s your anthem? Choose one song (old or new) that is considered your life’s anthem? Write the song title and singer. This song should explain who you are as a person, what you like or dislike, how you handle life, etc. Write at least one full verse that truly speaks to you as a person. Be wise; the lyrics must be appropriate for school! Choose wisely, and write a well developed, paragraph (7 -10 sentences) on why this song is your anthem.

Poet Laureate

On 26 March 1953, Hughes was called before Senator Joseph Mc. Carthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he fielded a barrage of questions about his previous involvement with communism. Hughes testified that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist party, and he distanced himself from some of his more radical poems of the past, saying that they had been misinterpreted. Leftists criticized Hughes after his testimony, saying that he had backed down too easily. (Hughes's questioning came near the end of Mc. Carthy's infamous witch hunt. By fall of that year, Mc. Carthy began his disastrous investigation into the U. S. Army, a miscalculation that ended his committee and fatally wounded his career. )

With that incident behind him, Hughes spent the last decade of his life working on a variety of projects, many of which focused on the achievements of the black community. He wrote biographies (Famous Negro Heroes of America, Marian Anderson: Famous Concert Singer), children's books (Popo and Fifina, The First Book of Jazz), and an illustrated pictorial of Harlem (Sweet Flypaper of Life). Hughes also took on Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz, an ambitious epic poem set to music that was never performed during his lifetime. I Wonder as I Wander, the second volume of his autobiography, appeared in 1956. He also reaped the recognition a poet laureate certainly deserves in his golden years. On 30 December 1960, the NAACP presented Hughes with the Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement by a black American, calling him the "poet laureate of the Negro race. "

Langston Hughes died in New York City on 22 May 1967, following complications after abdominal surgery, related to prostate cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were interred beneath a medallion in the floor of the Arthur Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, a branch of the New York Public Library located in his beloved Harlem. His townhouse on East 127 th Street was later declared a city landmark. At the time of Langston Hughes's death, a new era of black consciousness was coming of age in Harlem. This was the generation of Black Power and the Black Panthers, who had grown militant and tired of waiting for liberation. Many of them rejected the politics of Hughes's generation as too soft, too pliable, too patient with the way things were. But whether they knew it or not, the Panthers stood on Langston Hughes's shoulders. He had predicted their generation, as surely as he knew his own.

Mc. Carthyism, Communism, and The Accused https: //youtu. be/Mt. Tm 4 d. Tmm. LU • Mc. Carthyism: the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence.

“Mother to Son” Poetry Analysis

Things to Remember • Always use historical context as your background knowledge for a poem’s meaning. Historical context simply means what was going on in the poet’s life or society during the time of the poem’s publication. It can also mean what has happened in the poet’s life that could have been an influence on the poem’s meaning/message. Be careful though, some poets choose to write about eras/time periods that they have only heard or read about, so the meaning may come other parts of history or experience. • When reading a poem, NEVER, EVER stop reading at the end of each line unless there is a period. To keep the authenticity of the poem, please keep reading if there is no punctuation. If there is a comma at the end of a line, you simply pause for a moment. If there is a semi-colon at the end of a line, you pause slightly longer than a comma. If there is any other punctuation, simply pause the way you should and keep reading. Remember: DO NOT PAUSE AT THE END OF A LINE THAT HAS NO PUNCTUATION; KEEP GOING AS IF IT IS ALL ON ONE LINE!

Mother to Son Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So, boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now— For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. Langston Hughes

“Mother to Son” A Few Images

“Mother to Son” How to Annotate a Poem

What is Annotating? Annotating is the process of analyzing (investigating) and understanding a written work. Annotations are not just a summary of what is going on, but also an examination (inspection) of the tone, speaker, imagery, symbolism or other characteristics. When annotating a poem, you must ask and answer several questions, such as identifying the speaker and discovering the poem’s purpose.

• Tone: the perspective or attitude that the author adopts with regards to a specific character, place or development. Tone can portray a variety of emotions ranging from sincere, serious, and critical to witty, sarcastic and humorous. Tone helps the reader ascertain (determine) the writer’s feelings towards a particular topic and this in turn influences the reader’s understanding of the text. • Speaker: the "voice" which seems to be telling the poem. NOT the same as the poet; this is like a narrator. • Imagery: Imagery is the name given to the elements in a poem that spark off the senses. Despite "image" being a synonym for "picture", images do not have to only be things you can see; any of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) can respond to what a poet writes. • Symbolism: the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. Symbolism can take different forms. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Sometimes, however, an action, an event or a word spoken by someone may have a symbolic value. For instance, “smile” is a symbol of friendship. Similarly, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has for you.

Before annotating a poem, you must read it again and again. You will probably not glean (collect) all the information you need for a proper annotation from just a few readings. The first reading will provide your initial (first) reactions to the poem. A second reading enables you to write down some thoughts or to paraphrase what is happening in the poem. When you read a poem, focus on sentences rather than line breaks, as the breaks serve the structure, rhyme scheme and meter rather than logical sentence structure. Poetry is meant to be read aloud, so you should read through the poem multiple times aloud as well as to yourself.

Questions You must ask a series of questions when annotating a poem. After you paraphrase the poem or look up any words you do not understand, you can identify certain elements of the poem. Ask yourself “who is the speaker? ” and “what is the speaker’s tone? ” Recognize language the speaker uses or what opinions the speaker may have. Ascertain (determine) the intended audience, setting, poem structure (for example, is it a sonnet or other form? ) and use of enjambment or endstopped lines.

Enjambment vs. End-Stopped Lines • Enjambment: derived from a French word enjambment, means to step over or put legs across. In poetry it means moving over from one line to another without a terminating punctuation mark. It can be defined as a thought or sense, phrase or clause in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break but moves over to the next line. • End-stopped lines: a poetic device in which a pause comes at the end of a syntactic unit (sentence, clause or phrase); this pause can be expressed in writing as a punctuation mark such as a colon, semicolon, period or full stop.

Literary Devices Poetry is notorious (infamous) for utilizing a variety of literary devices, like simile and metaphor. Think about the poet’s use of imagery and how it is used to set the mood or create meaning. Determine what images symbolize. Look at any allusions and ask why the poet used them and what they imply (suggest). Search for opposites like light and dark or young and old. Identify shifts (changes) in the attitude of the speaker. Recognize the literal and abstract (deeper/intellectual) meanings.

Allusion a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is just a passing comment and the writer expects the reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the allusion and grasp its importance in a text. Example: “Hey! Guess who the new Newton of our school is? ” – “Newton”, means a genius student, alludes to a famous scientist Isaac Newton.

Uses Poetry is meant to invoke (appeal) an emotional response in the reader. Oftentimes, readers can glaze over a poem and not really understand its meaning. Annotation involves the reader in an in-depth look at the poem; the poem can then stimulate a reader’s intellect as well as be entertaining. Poets are often very cautious of their word choices and structure; annotation helps the reader understand a poet’s intentions. Annotating poetry is also an ideal device for the classroom because it teaches about subjects such as literary devices, tone and form.

The very first thing you do when annotating a poem… • Number the lines and stanzas • If the poem does not have stanzas, chunk the poem into logical sections • When answering questions, be sure to show where in the poem you have found your answers or support by underlining, circling, boxing, or any other type of marking system your teacher chooses for you to use.

When answering questions, be sure to label it on the actual poem. Here’s an example… If I’m looking for the speaker of the poem, this is what my annotation would look like:

The mother is the speaker of the poem, because she begins a discussion with her child by saying, “Well, son, I’ll tell you/Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (1 -2). Mother to Son 1 Well, son, I'll tell you: 2 Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. 3 It's had tacks in it, 4 And splinters, 5 And boards torn up, 6 And places with no carpet on the floor— 7 Bare. 8 But all the time 9 I'se been a-climbin' on, 10 And reachin' landin's, 11 And turnin' corners, 12 And sometimes goin' in the dark 13 Where there ain't been no light. As you can see, I numbered the lines of the poem and I chunked the first part into two different stanzas. Then, I circled the lines of the poem that identify the speaker. Then I provided an explanation of how I know my observation is correct. In order to support my observation, I have to choose lines from the poem that help my opinion. When choosing lines to support my opinion, I have to separate the lines by “/” to identify that more than one line of the poem is being used. Then, when I end my quotation, I have to say which lines I am using (1 -2). If I wanted to use lines 4 and 7 I would simply write: The speaker dealt with painful nights that felt like “splinters” and left her in a “bare” and dark atmosphere, but she kept fighting”(4, 7). Notice, I did not separate the lines of the poem with “/” because I was making two different points in the same sentence.

Here are several questions we must ask and answer while annotating “Mother to Son: ” • An extended metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a lines in a poem, which builds upon an initial metaphor, often bringing several of the senses (sight, sound, touch, hearing, taste) into play. It is a common literary device, particularly in poetry. The various elements or images in an extended metaphor may fit together or complement one another in different ways. • Question 1: What is the extended metaphor in “Mother to Son”?

Question 1 14 So, boy, don't you turn back. 1 Well, son, I'll tell you: 15 Don't you set down on the steps. 2 Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. 16 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. 3 It's had tacks in it, 17 Don't you fall now— 4 And splinters, 18 For I'se still goin', honey, 5 And boards torn up, 6 And places with no carpet on the floor— 19 I'se still climbin', 20 And life for me ain't been no 7 Bare. It takes work to climb a flight of stairs that crystal stair. 8 But all the time are in good shape, so imagine what it would be like to climb a flight of 9 I'se been a-climbin' on, dilapidated stairs; it would be quite rough, but the speaker had the strength to keep 10 And reachin' landin's, “a-climbin’ on, ” “reachin’ landin’s, ” “and Langston Hughes turnin’ corners” (7 -9). 11 And turnin' corners, Langston Hughes extends the crystal stair metaphor to the life of the 12 And sometimes goin' in the dark mother throughout the entire poem. He introduces the extended metaphor 13 Where there ain't been no light. in line two when the mother tells her son, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. ” The mother continues in lines 3 -7 explaining how her life was the opposite of the lavish quality of a crystal stair…

Here are several questions we must ask and answer while annotating “Mother to Son: ” 2. What is theme of the poem (see next slide)?

The theme of this poem is: use your struggles as a means to catapult you to your successes. Although the mother had a number of hardships that should have caused her to give up, she used those hardships as a reminder of what she wished for herself. Her struggles caused her to push past her experience and see her end dreams. Question 2 Notice how my annotations from question one are still on the same page as my annotations from question 2? Your paper should be full of organized, color-coded or shapecoded annotations! 14 So, boy, don't you turn back. 1 Well, son, I'll tell you: 15 Don't you set down on the steps. 2 Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. 16 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. 3 It's had tacks in it, 17 Don't you fall now— 4 And splinters, 18 For I'se still goin', honey, 5 And boards torn up, 6 And places with no carpet on the floor— 19 I'se still climbin', 20 And life for me ain't been no 7 Bare. It takes work to climb a flight of stairs that crystal stair. 8 But all the time are in good shape, so imagine what it would be like to climb a flight of 9 I'se been a-climbin' on, dilapidated stairs; it would be quite rough, but the speaker had the strength to keep 10 And reachin' landin's, “a-climbin’ on, ” “reachin’ landin’s, ” “and Langston Hughes turnin’ corners” (7 -9). 11 And turnin' corners, Langston Hughes extends the crystal stair metaphor to life 12 And sometimes goin' in the dark throughout the entire poem. He introduces the extended metaphor 13 Where there ain't been no light. in line two when the mother tells her son, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. ” The mother continues in lines 3 -7 explaining how her life was the opposite of the lavish quality of a crystal stair…

Here are several questions we must ask and answer while annotating “Mother to Son: ” 3. What types of imagery does Hughes display in this poem? 4. What does the mother say about her life in this poem? 5. What comparison does she make to develop this point? 6. In this poem, boards with “tacks and splinters” and “boards torn up” are symbols for what? 7. What might “reachin’ landin’s” symbolize in the mother’s climb? 8. Why do you think the word “bare” is on a line all alone? 9. What is the most likely meaning for “turnin’ corners” in the context of the poem? 10. The crystal stair is a metaphor that is used throughout the poem. Why do you think Hughes makes the stairway “crystal? ”

Here are several questions we must ask and answer while annotating “Mother to Son: ” 11. What words describe the stairs the mother is used to experiencing? 12. What does the mother say she did with the life she had? 13. What did the mother tell the son to do? What lesson does she want to teach her son? 14. Why is a “stairway” a particularly appropriate metaphor to describe the wisdom the mother is trying to impart to her son? 15. What is the most likely age of the son? 16. How does her personal experience influence the advice she gives her son? 17. What qualities/characteristics does the mother demonstrate through her words and actions? 18. Why does she need these qualities/characteristics? 19. The style of language used in the poem, which is particular to a particular cultural or geographic region, is known as dialect. Explain the characteristics of the dialect in which the mother speaks. 20. Would you take advice from the mother in this poem during a rough time in your life? Why or why not?

Dream Deferred

1 What happens to a dream deferred? 2 Does it dry up 3 Like a raisin in the sun? 4 Or fester like a sore-5 And then run? 6 Does it stink like rotten meat? 7 Or crust and sugar over-8 like a syrupy sweet? 9 Maybe it just sags 10 like a heavy load. 11 Or does it explode?

1 What happens to a dream deferred? Why do you think the author chose to invert the adjective—deferred— after the noun? How does this order change the meaning?

2 Does it dry up • What happens when things dry up? • What does this line make you think of?

3 Like a raisin in the sun? • Grapes become raisins when they gradually lose their sweet juice by sitting out in the sun to dry up. • Famous American playwright, Lorraine Hansberry took the phrase “a raisin in the sun” as the title of her play A Raisin in the Sun. the paly quickly became one of the most beloved works in American theatre as it captures the deferred dreams of a black family in Chicago during the 1950 s.

4 Or fester like a sore- • When you hear the word fester, what comes to mind? • Usually, things fester when they aren’t healing or when they aren’t being cared for properly. • What does the speaker suggest will happen to a deferred dream in this line?

5 And then run? • We know the speaker is continuing with the wound image here. • What are the connotations of the word “run” in this line? Remember, the speaker is still continuing the wound image in this line of the poem.

6 Does it stink like rotten meat? • How does meat even get rotten? • So, what is the speaker saying will happen to stashed away dreams? • What senses are being invoked in this line? Why do you think the speaker decided to use these imagery examples?

7 Or crust and sugar over- • What kinds of things crust or sugar over? • Usually things that are left out in the open and that aren’t put away properly. • Can dream be put away properly? • Can dreams be preserved if they aren’t pursued? • What sense does the speaker focus on? • What two contrasting things are being compared here?

8 like a syrupy sweet? • What does syrup remind you of? • How are dreams related to the consistency of syrup?

9 Maybe it just sags • What types of things sag? • Looking back at the picture on slide 82, what causes the woman’s body to sag? • What is the speaker saying about the importance o dreams in this line? Refer back to the picture on slide 82 for help.

10 like a heavy load. • What des “heavy load” remind you of? • How does this line relate to deferred dreams? • A load is something we carry. And if it’s heavy, it will be tough to carry. • Sometimes, other people can help us carry our loads, but it doesn’t appear that the speaker is implying this load is shareable. Why do you think this is a solo load to carry?

11 Or does it explode? • How is this line similar to the first line? • Why is the word “explode” italicized? • What are the connotations of the italicized word? • How does this word compare to the other words used in the poem? • What happens to things that are about to explode? • How does this relate to dreams? • An exploding dream could be both positive and negative. How can it be both?