Oscar Gradilla Ms.

Hampton October 10, 2012 The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was one of the few movements that opened the world of art and literature to the black African society. The poem Harlem by Langston Hughes is a free verse poem that was written during the Harlem Renaissance. At the time period of what we know now as the Harlem Renaissance, was actually known as the New Negro Movement, because it was just after the end of the civil war when the African Americans were being enslaved. The poem by Mr. Hughes shows the potential audiences as the white society. The white society is made to feel pathetic for what they have caused by oppressing and enslaving the African Americans. Throughout the poem the writer uses personification, allusion, and line break in order to make the audience feel the actual pain and to express how the African Americans feel. Langston Hughes poem has a couple literary devices that he uses to send a message to the white society. He uses personification to talk about the city of Harlem in the beginning of the poem. The poem begins with the speaker stating Here on the edge of hell/ Stands Harlem.(Lines 1-2) The personification that is being used is stands Harlem. Harlem is a city in New York; it cannot stand like a person. By personifying Harlem as a person standing on the edge of hell refers to Harlem being like an inferno. Its so close to being like an inferno its not necessarily hell yet, but on the verge to becoming one. The reason Harlem is becoming like hell is, because the white society does not treat the African Americans with respect. Another literary device this poem uses is allusion. The allusions are referencing the African Americans in their time of being slaves, when they were being mistreated. The speaker states Remembering the old lies. / The old kicks in the back. / The old Be Patient. (Lines 3-5) In these lines the speaker is being very literal with the audience, the old kicks in the back. This scene alludes to the

Oscar Gradilla Ms. Hampton October 10, 2012 mistreatment of the slaves; which were mostly African Americans. Then the speaker also states remembering the job we never had. (Line 12) These couple of lines that the speaker uses helps get a feel of the mistreatment and the hopeless opportunities that the slaves had. Since most of the slave owners where white male this poem targets them. The speaker tries to make the white society feel pathetic for what they have caused. They have hurt the Africans physically, and have not let them get the opportunities they deserve. Finally the other literary device used in this poem is a line break. The line break is used as an emphasis technique to get the reader to focus on specific words. The author in this case writes Stands Harlem- (Line 2) as the only two isolated words. Stands Harlem is personification, however in this case with line break it brings a much deeper meaning into the words. The author might emphasize these two words because during the time slavery was still in use mostly African Americans were the ones being oppressed and exploited. Later into the poem, in Harlem (Line18) is emphasized once more. That is why believe the speaker uses line break not once, but twice in the poem. He is making it clear that the white society dont make the same mistakes again. That is how the poem Harlem by Langston Hughes uses personification, allusion, and line break in order to make the white audience feel pathetic. I believe this time period was very inspiring to the African Americans especially because it makes the white people feel pathetic and gives them a chance to be able to become someone better. The fact that during this time the beliefs were, America was not for the people, but for white people and that the African American voice should be heard. Today this poem is really helpful in many occasions because we live under a Declaration that all men are created equal. However this has been

Oscar Gradilla Ms. Hampton October 10, 2012 brought to the United States a long time ago it wasnt really being enforced and now-a-days its being used to keep equality among the society.