Analysis of the poem

Do you have any experience of facing a difficult problem throughout your life? What did you do to overcome this?

You might have wondered why I asked this question but after reading this blog, you will understand why I asked. 

I analyzed the poem “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes with my classmate. 

We chose this poem because first of all, we were attracted by the title and curiosity to find the meaning of the word “darker brother.” And then we saw how short the poem was compared to the others and knew that there’s a lot to analyze. 

Before we get into the poem, I will introduce you to the author; Langston Hughes. 

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, and died in 1967 from cancer. His parents divorced when he was a young child and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen.

Being an American poet, novelist, and playwright, Langston Hughes published his first poem in 1921. He attended Columbia University in 1921 but left after one year to travel. His African American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

I think he wrote and expressed his feelings towards this poem. Even though he feels he is an American he looks different because of his skin color. He feels that he is excluded because he is an African American, however, he speaks out against racism and sings that he is an American. 

I, too, sing America.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

Now moving on to analyzing the poem, the rhetorical devices we found are as follows. 

Metaphor: 

“I am the darker brother” is a metaphor for the African American population. 

Also, in the poem, the narrator is denied from sitting at the ‘table’ and is forced to ‘eat in the kitchen.’ I think this is a metaphor for the segregation and inequality experienced by the African-Americans during the 1900s. 

Repetition: 

The repetition of pronouns like ‘I’ ‘they’ and ‘me’ make the poem personal and powerful. This use of repetition makes the reader feel like they have a connection with the narrator and gives them a deeper understanding of the themes. 

Allusion: 

The first line, “I, too, sing America” alludes to Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” which explores the different voices that make up American and how one group is forgotten. 

Tone: 

The tone of the poem is patriotic because Hughes wants to be a part of his country. 

I will now explain each line and its meaning. 

First stanza: 

“I, too, sing America.” The use of “I” is very personal and we can understand that the speaker is the poet Langston Hughes.

Second stanza:

In the first line, Hughes writes “I am the darker brother” and he identifies himself as “darker brother.” Also, we can interpret “darker brother” as African American as he recognizes himself as the color of his skin by saying darker. The word “they” in the second line refers to the white people and this tells that the Blacks cannot dine with the Whites. However, Hughes emphasizes hope is not lost. He takes the situation positively not negatively.

Third stanza: 

It looks towards the future because the tense has changed to the future tense. The first two stanzas, it is written in the present tense. He hopes that he would be able to sit with the other Americans and he has a vision of no discrimination and the African American would be treated equally as the White.

Fourth stanza:

It recognizes how beautiful African Americans are. Not only will he and other African Americans be treated equally, but those who have persecuted them for centuries will be ashamed of what they did. They will recognize the beauty and vitality of the African Americans and realize their wrongs.

Last line: 

“I, too, am America.”, can be interpreted that Hughes feels he is an American and we can see that the feelings towards being an American are even stronger compared to the first line. This phrase may have a message that each person is important and everyone should be accepted and treated equally. 

First impressions → Now

From the stanza ‘Tomorrow’ it sounded that the speaker wanted to make a change and make his life better. We thought that the poem was the poet Langston Hughes' experience because it was written in the first person. 

However, after analyzing, we found out that the poem is looked at as a big theme; race, freedom, inequality, discrimination, and hope. Hughes' experience applies to other African Americans' experiences and this poem showed the relationship between the White and the Black. We thought the word, “I” stood out because the “I” meaning African Americans who are the minorities sounded like they are seen as individuals. 

Related to food?

Yes. This poem described the importance of eating at a table. In the poem, there were words related to food like kitchen, eat, and table. When we think of a kitchen, it’s a place where people prepare food and is not a place to eat. Throughout the poem, Hughes explains that Whites eat at the table while the African Americans are forced to eat in the kitchen because they are looked at as servants or slaves = low status. 

Who wants to stand and eat? Eating is one of the ways to rest because you can sit comfortably and communicate with people. On the other hand, if you are eating in a kitchen, it’s always busy and distracting. My classmate and I learned that dining together is very important and is one way to solve equality between the Whites and the Black.