Langston+Hughes

Democracy
I picture the voice as being that of the Langston Hughes. The poem was about slavery, freedom and democracy. In the first stanza he says democracy will not come through compromise and fear. I think he means that the slaves will have to step up and take what they want because there was no such thing as compromise for them back in those days. In the second stanza he says despite being of a different race he still has the right to be his own person and live like the average citizen. The next stanza says that they should not wait until their day comes because they don’t need their freedom after they are dead, they can’t sit back and see what will happen next. He then goes on to say that freedom is in great need and that he wants it just as bad as everyone else. This makes him sound like he is having the same difficulty and problems as everyone else, which would be perfect if this was ever used as a speech. Correlation: Langston Hughes often wrote poems of slavery and hardship. I think this was because when he was growing up he often listened to stories of slavery and hardship from his father and uncle. Both his father and uncle were leaders of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society in the mid 1800’s. His poem, Democracy, was about not sitting back and waiting to see what the future brings but instead taking what you want and deciding your own fate. I think this was a lesson he had learned as a kid and took it into his adulthood and thus he turned it into this poem. Reflection: There were a few examples of poetic techniques in this poem. alliteration: “strong seed” simile: “Freedom is a strong seed planted in a great need.” This line uses “is” and is comparing two different things enjambed lines: In the first, second and fourth stanzas there are no punctuation until the last line.