As I Grew Older Poem

This highly constructive and memorable poem was outset published in Hughes' near-famous drove, The Weary Blues, in 1926. 'As I Grew Older' is representative of Hughes' broader contribution to American poetry during the Harlem Renaissance and can be read alongside other Hughes poems similar ' Harlem (A Dream Deferred) ,' ' Dreams ,' and ' I Dream a World .'

          As I Grew Older                    Langston Hughes          It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was at that place then, In front of me, Bright like a dominicus,— My dream.  And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose slowly, slowly, Dimming, Hiding, The light of my dream. Rose until it touched the sky,— The wall.  Shadow. I am black.  I lie downwardly in the shadow. No longer the lite of my dream before me, In a higher place me. Just the thick wall. Only the shadow.  My easily! My night hands! Break through the wall! Discover my dream! Assistance me to shatter this darkness, To boom this dark, To intermission this shadow Into a 1000 lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of dominicus!

Summary

'As I Grew Older' by Langston Hughes is a powerful poem about dreams, racism, and a speaker's determination to attain a brighter future.

In the first role of this poem, the speaker begins by looking back on their life and remembering how they used to have a "dream." Their dream was "like a sign" in front of them. It represented a hopeful hereafter and general happiness in the speaker's everyday life. Merely, a metaphorical wall slowly rises between the speaker and what he wants to achieve.

This wall, which represents the racially discriminatory policies of Langston Hughes's gimmicky globe, prevented him from achieving what he wanted most in life. The wall was and then stiff and alpine that he forgot his dreams existed for a fourth dimension. As the poem progresses, he addresses his hands, (his "night hands"), and attempts to inspire himself to break through the wall and discover his dreams. If he can get through this metaphorical wall, he believes he tin interruption it into a " m lights of sun" and into a " thousand whirling dreams."

Themes

Beneath, readers can explore 2 major themes within Langston Hughes' 'As I Grew Older.'

Racism. Racism is one of the major themes at the heart of this poem. Information technology is due to the racially discriminatory policies in the United States during Langston Hughes'due south life and the way in which the African-American community was treated by everyday people that the speaker encountered a "wall" in front of his dreams. The community's racism prevented him from achieving what he wanted to throughout his life. Information technology was only as he "grew older" that he remembered his dreams and decided that plenty is plenty.
Dreams. Without a uncertainty, the speaker's dreams and the broader African-American customs are ane of the major themes of this short verse form. Throughout, the speaker simply alludes to what his dreams are about. It is up to readers to interpret the kind of life the speaker wanted for himself, and how it should exist contrasted with the reality he has been confronted with and then far. It's like he dreamed about a life free from prejudice and the confines of a racially discriminatory society. He wanted a life where he could pursue his personal desires and goals without a "wall" getting in the way.

Poem Meaning

The meaning of 'Every bit I Grew Older' by Langston Hughes is that as a Black man or adult female living in the early to mid-1900s in the United States, the racially discriminatory policies and feelings of everyday people stood in the manner of "dreams." The speaker chooses, partway through the poem, to break through the "wall" and achieve out to reattain his dreams. It's through personal ability and strength that marginalized groups can step out of the shadow.

Structure and Form

'Every bit I Grew Older' past Langston Hughes is a five-stanza poem delivered in the first-person perspective that is divided into uneven sets of lines. The starting time stanza contains six lines, the second: x, the third: two, the quaternary: five, and the fifth: ten. The poem is as well written in free verse. This ways that the poet does not brand use of a specific rhyme scheme or metrical blueprint.

Literary Devices

Throughout this slice, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include simply are not express to:

Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line earlier its natural stopping point. For case, the transition between lines seven and eight of the last stanza.
Juxtaposition: tin be seen in the first stanza when the poet emphasizes the "vivid" sunday and then the shadow in the 2nd stanza.
Ingemination: occurs when the poet repeats the same consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. For instance, "forgotten" in line two and "front end" in line 4 of the first stanza too as the repetition of "slowly" in the second stanza.
Simile: the comparing betwixt 2 dissimilar things that uses either "similar" or "as." For example, "Bright like a sun,— / My dream."
Metaphor: a comparison between ii unlike things that does not employ "like" or "as." Throughout this piece, Hughes makes use of an extended metaphor that compares racial bigotry to a "wall" that rose upwards in front of his speaker's dreams and the dreams of other African American men and women.
Hyperbole: an intentionally exaggerated expression. For example, "Rose until it touched the heaven" in stanza two.
Anaphora: the repetition of the same word or phrase at the first of multiple lines. For instance, "My," "Into," and "To" which each beginning multiple lines in the final stanza.

Detailed Analysis

Stanza One

It was a long fourth dimension ago.
I have nigh forgotten my dream.
Merely information technology was there then,
In front of me,
Brilliant like a sun,—
My dream.

In the kickoff stanza of 'Equally I Grew Older,' the speaker begins by looking back on the past and because what his "dream" used to expect like. Although it was a long time ago, the speaker notes, and he has "almost forgotten" what his dream was, he can call up that at the fourth dimension, it was "bright like a sunday." This is a corking example of a simile.

The poet is comparing his dream to the sun'south warmth, effulgence, and symbolic qualities. His dream suggested an optimistic future in which he could be successful, provide for those he loved, and, likely, find general happiness that would make life worth living.

Although the speaker does not describe, in detail, what his exact dream is throughout this poem, with some context and assay, it becomes articulate that a life costless of discrimination, prejudice, and the horrors of racism is one major function of it.

The starting time stanza provides readers with a very important item: the speaker has forgotten his dream. This adds a great deal of emotion to the first stanza, which is but further through the 2nd, third, fourth, and 5th stanzas. The fact that the speaker has "forgotten" his dream suggests that the reality he confronted in his day-to-solar day life made his dream impossible. The life of freedom, happiness, and equality was non achieved and was so out of the realm of possibilities that the speaker forgot it entirely.

Stanza Two

And and then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose slowly, slowly,
Dimming,
Hiding,
The light of my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky,—
The wall.

The second stanza provides readers with more details in regard to what happened to the speaker'southward dream. There is a bully transition between the first and second stanzas, with the 2d stanza beginning with the discussion "And." This is an abrupt transition, one that is meant to create an effective example of juxtaposition. The poet places ii contrasting images next to each other. They are the sun's brightness, the speaker's dream, and the darkness of the wall that rose up "slowly" between the speaker and his dream.

The cosmos of the wall, or its appearance, did not happen quickly or out of the bluish. The fact that the wall rose "slowly" is something that the poet emphasizes, using the discussion "slowly" four times in the 2d stanza. The wall rose, "dimming" and "hiding" the light of the speaker's dream. It was an incredibly powerful, alpine, and insurmountable wall.

This stanza provides readers with an case of an extended metaphor. This is a metaphor that lasts more than ane or two lines, in this case, remaining influential throughout the entire poem. The wall is a comparison, without using the words "similar or "as," that suggests that the real-globe racism and discrimination the speaker met throughout his life was a "wall." It prevented him from accessing, seeing, or even remembering his dreams. Information technology consumed his life, boxing him into specific day-to-day challenges.

Information technology should as well exist noted that while this poem is nearly a very specific feel, those of African-American men and women during Langston Hughes' lifetime (in the early to mid-1900s), the poem is still incredibly applicative today. This is regarding the lives of marginalized groups within the Usa and around the world and anyone who has encountered a boundary to success due to how they look, where they're from, their race, sexual identity, and more than.

Stanza Three

Shadow.
I am blackness.

The third stanza is perhaps the most memorable of the 5 stanza verse form. Here, the poet only uses 2 lines, one of which is only i discussion long. He writes, "Shadow. / I am black." Hither, if the reader was not aware before, information technology becomes very clear that the "shadow" that the speaker is living in, cast by the wall and blocking out his everyday dreams, is due to his race. He'due south a Black human being living in a world controlled past those who have no interest in assuasive an African-American homo to succeed. Racism, discrimination, and full general cruelty were things that African American men and women met with on a twenty-four hours-to-twenty-four hour period basis (a fact that even so holds true to this day).

Stanza 4

I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the lite of my dream before me,
Higher up me.
Just the thick wall.
Only the shadow.

In the fourth stanza, which is but five lines long, the speaker describes the "shadow" that he's forced to contend with due to racial segregation and discrimination. He lies down in it and can't encounter the "light of [his] dream before" him. The speaker is entirely consumed by darkness (an image that should remind readers of the initial transition between the brilliant sun of an optimistic time to come or "dream" and the wall itself.

All around the speaker is darkness, and in front of him, the "thick wall." He'due south boxed in, not past choice, merely due to the world's vicious beliefs and unwillingness to accept men and women of unlike skin color and backgrounds. Life, the speaker implies, did not turn out the way he was hoping. It was far more than difficult to achieve the dreams he wanted due to the "wall."

This is a perfect moment in the poem for readers to consider the impact that such a "wall" would have in a single person's life and how much easier a life without a "wall" would be.

Stanza V

My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a k whirling dreams
Of sun!

The next four lines of the poem all end with exclamation marks. Rather than dwell in the darkness the wall casts or throw away his dreams entirely, the speaker's vague retentiveness of the brilliant dreams he used to have inspires him to suspension through the wall and find his dreams in an address to himself. He uses an instance of an apostrophe, speaking to his hands, his "dark hands," and telling them to "break through the wall." He is attempting to inspire himself and in the process, is inspiring other African-American men and women in similar situations.

In lines five through seven, the poet continues to address his easily, asking them to help him "shadow the darkness "and break out of the confines that the world has boxed him into. If he can "nail tonight "and "pause the shadow," he believes the prejudices inflicted upon him volition shatter into a "g whirling dreams / Of sun," and his dream, and those of other men and women like him will return to prominence within their everyday lives. Rather than contending with the cruelties and constraints of racial prejudice, the men and women of the African American community will be able to pursue their dreams freely.

FAQs

What inspired Langston Hughes to write the poem 'As I Grew Older?'

Information technology is probable that Langston Hughes was inspired to write this poem from his real-life, day-to-day experience as a blackness man in the early 1900s in New York. He was likely speaking from his ain perspective when he wrote the five stanzas of this poem. Only, if not, he was likely inspired by the experiences of men and women he knew whose dreams were sidelined due to racism and racist policies.

What is the verse form 'As I Grew Older' nigh?

The poem is about what the speaker has realized nigh his dreams as he'due south grown older. Specifically, he'due south remembered his dreams existed as a bright low-cal prior to his being boxed in past a wall and consumed by shadow, due to the world'due south discriminatory policies.

What does the darkness represent in 'As I Grew Older?'

The darkness in 'Equally I Grew Older' represents the prejudice, hatred, cruelty, and ignorance of the real globe. The speaker, and the rest of the African-American community that Langston Hughes often wrote nigh, take to deal with these aspects of their gimmicky earth on a daily basis.

What do the speaker'due south hands represent in 'As I Grew Older' by Langston Hughes?

The speaker'southward hands represent his power and his choice to accept control of his ain life in one case over again. With his hands, he is going to pause through the walls of prejudice and racial discrimination and find again the brightness and hope of his youthful dreams.

What are the major symbols used in 'Equally I Grew Older?'

Throughout this poem, in that location are a few interesting symbols Langston Hughes uses. They are the speaker's hands (his power and the tools he uses to fight discrimination), the wall (the discriminatory policies and beliefs that block his dreams), and the light of his dream (hope and the promise of the future). These, among others, create a moving and memorable depiction of prejudice within the everyday lives of African Americans in the early on to mid-1900s.

What is the message of the verse form 'As I Grew Older?'

The bulletin is that in order to retrieve one'south dreams, which have been blocked by discriminatory and racial prejudice policies, one has to utilize their ain hands (or their ain skills, tools, and power), to break down the wall and access their hopeful time to come.

Similar Poesy

Readers who enjoyed this piece should likewise consider reading another Langston Hughes poems. For example:

' Beale Street Love ' – a short, powerful verse form that speaks on the nature of love on Beale Street, an African American cultural hub.
'Dreams' – focuses on the importance of dreams and how they might die.
'Democracy' – is focused on the fight for equal rights under the law, including the ability to vote for African Americans

As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes