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Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The speaker defines himself as what his kinetic (touch), visual, and auditory senses perceive daily, which is Harlem. He writes, “I guess I’m what / I feel and see and hear” (Lines 17-18) to answer what is “true” (Line 16). Then, he focuses on his aural sense; “hear” is repeated four more times in Lines 18-20. The speaker hears “Harlem” (Line 18) and “New York” (Line 20), and Harlem hears him. The sense of sound is shared between the Black speaker and his predominately Black borough. Furthermore, Hughes and his speaker listen to music. This motif of sensory experience reflects the poem’s jazz inspiration. The word “motif” is also used in music theory terminology to describe a short, repeated musical fragment.
Throughout the poem, “page” functions to describe the speaker’s homework assignment, but it also symbolizes writing and education. When the word “page” appears in Lines 3, 15, and 41, it is part of the writing prompt and bookends the assignment itself. In other words, these three occurrences of the “page” are stated by the instructor and the student to describe the contents of Stanza 4.
When the word “page” appears within Stanza 4, as part of the assignment, it takes on symbolic meanings.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
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Dreams
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Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
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I, Too
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Let America Be America Again
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Me and the Mule
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Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
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Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
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Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
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The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Langston Hughes