Essay --

James Mercer Langston Hughes was a poet and a novelist from the mid -1900s who began writing poems throughout his high school career. His poems are mainly affiliated with the tough life he had been through as racism reached its peak. In his poems, Langston Hughes discusses his hardships dealing with all the racist people in his schools and the ones around him. And how the experience of life was for someone who was black. He was known as the most versatile writer of the Harlem Renaissance, a time in American history when African Americans became part of the mainstream in both politics and music. In Langston Hughes’s poem, â€Å"Dreams† Langston Hughes illustrates the value of dreams. He believes that dreams serve as the purpose of life and if there are no dreams to achieve then that life is not worth living. The rhyme scheme of the poem is A-B-C-B-D-F-E-F. In line 1 and 2 Langston Hughes uses personification describing how dreams die, giving dreams characteristics of living things. By this he means that if people do not follow their goals/dreams they can never taste freedom and they become incapable of doing anything with their life. From lines 3-4, a metaphor is used to compare life to a broken-winged bird that cannot fly if dreams die. This is the same concept where if there aren’t dreams to pursue in life, there is nothing to be done in life. From lines 6-8, Langston Hughes uses personification again saying, if dreams go, or in other words fade away, life becomes a barren field with frozen snow. This is a metaphor. With this being said, a barren field is used to describe an empty life, still, and alone where there is nothing to be done and where nothing can be done, everything is stable. This barren field being frozen with snow sh... ...n’t being treated like the white kids are treated. From lines 3 to 6, Langston Hughes explains how the injustice in his life doesn’t matter to white kids. To white kids, injustice is like unnoticeable, yet it does exist. Throughout the rest of the poem, Hughes questions the promises made by the Pledge of Allegiance. The promise made was, Liberty and Justice for all! This was only for the white kids where when it came to African Americans, they were ignored. Langston Hughes points out the part in the Pledge where it is said, â€Å"for all†, and that really only stands for white people. He says the Pledge of Allegiance has lies written in it. Like a children’s nursery rhyme, treated insignificantly. Langston Hughes discusses how the promises made in the Pledge are only promised, but are not given to all. The rhyme scheme for this poem is A-B-C-D-C-E-F-G-H-G-I-J-K-L-K.