The negro Mother By: Langston Hughes.
Children, I come back today
To tell you a story of the long dark way That I had to climb, that I had to know In order that the race might live and grow. Look at my face - dark as the night - Yet shining like the sun with love's true light. I am the dark girl who crossed the red sea Carrying in my body the seed of the free. I am the woman who worked in the field Bringing the cotton and the corn to yield. I am the one who labored as a slave, Beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave - Children sold away from me, I'm husband sold, too. No safety, no love, no respect was I due. Three hundred years in the deepest South: But God put a song and a prayer in my mouth. God put a dream like steel in my soul. Now, through my children, I'm reaching the goal. Now, through my children, young and free, I realized the blessing deed to me. I couldn't read then. I couldn't write. I had nothing, back there in the night. Sometimes, the valley was filled with tears, But I kept trudging on through the lonely years. Sometimes, the road was hot with the sun, But I had to keep on till my work was done: I had to keep on! No stopping for me - I was the seed of the coming Free. I nourished the dream that nothing could smother Deep in my breast - the Negro mother. I had only hope then, but now through you, Dark ones of today, my dreams must come true: All you dark children in the world out there, Remember my sweat, my pain, my despair. Remember my years, heavy with sorrow - And make of those years a torch for tomorrow. Make of my pass a road to the light Out of the darkness, the ignorance, the night. Lift high my banner out of the dust. Stand like free men supporting my trust. Believe in the right, let none push you back. Remember the whip and the slaver's track. Remember how the strong in struggle and strife Still bar you the way, and deny you life - But march ever forward, breaking down bars. Look ever upward at the sun and the stars. Oh, my dark children, may my dreams and my prayers Impel you forever up the great stairs - For I will be with you till no white brother Dares keep down the children of the Negro Mother. |
Analysis.Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers of the harlem renaissance that happened during World War I and middle 1930s. The harlem renaissance was a period where a big explosion of culture and art of the African-american placed in Harlem, New York. In this text I will be analyzing Langston Hughes poem “The Negro Mother”. “Children, I come back today, To tell you a story of the long dark way, That I had to climb, that I had to know, In order that the race might live and grow. Look at my face - dark as the night -, Yet shining like the sun with love's true light. I am the dark girl who crossed the red sea, Carrying in my body the seed of the free.”, This is the story of a woman that came from a really far away land (Africa) to come to America, and she has fought and worked a lot to have her children and take care of them, and driven by love, she tries to give them the best life she can. “I am the woman who worked in the field, Bringing the cotton and the corn to yield. I am the one who labored as a slave, Beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave - Children sold away from me, I'm husband sold, too. No safety, no love, no respect was I due”, this woman lived in the 1860s because she talks about working in a cotton field labored as a slave and that happened during the industrial era of usa, when cotton factories started. She was beaten and mistreated by the white men because her race. Plus his family got separated because his children got sold as her husband. “Three hundred years in the deepest South: But God put a song and a prayer in my mouth. God put a dream like steel in my soul. Now, through my children, I'm reaching the goal. Now, through my children, young and free… Dares keep down the children of the Negro Mother.”, this last part basically explains some details of the life of this mother and what she had to do and pass through, to reach her goal, freedom for her children, and also she wanted them to remember all the suffering “The Negro Mother” had to pass through for them to be free. The tone here is calm, sad and depressing sometimes, but it gradually changes to happy when the negro mother finally reaches her goal so yes there are shifts. All the Analysis of paintings and poems are connected because all of these were made during the same time period and with the same purpose... show bright and dark parts about the life of an African American. Show how much they suffered to achieve goals like liberty and stopping racism little by little. To show that they can be good poets and painters. To show that the black race is capable of doing things that white can do and that they are humans too.
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