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Langston Hughes

Decent Essays

Langston Hughes wrote a poem about a dream he once had in which he was not able to view the dream until he broke through a barrier in front of him. This poem was called, “ As I Grew Older.” Langston Hughes is telling us that barriers should not stop us from our dream. In the text, he demonstrates many literary elements, including metaphors, imagery, and theme. Metaphors stand out the most during this poem. Hughes uses many comparisons to convey a message in which he compares light to his dreams and darkness to the barrier that covers up his dream. For example, he says “break through the wall! Find my dream!,” meaning that he is trying to break this barrier in order to be allowed to see his dream again. Another metaphor that relates to his dream emerges when he states, “Into a thousand lights of sun, into a thousand whirling dreams of sun!.” He is using this to interpret that if he breaks through he can be in touch with his dreams again and nothing will stop him. …show more content…

He states, “ only the thick wall. Only the shadow,” using the wall as a visual metaphor for what he is facing in his life. Despite that, there is an overall metaphor for the entire poem. The story line of this poem is about a man who had a dream, but was blocked from it. However, if you look deeper into the text and think about it, it allows us to infer that in his time it was a struggle for minorities to not only have the drive to chase their dreams but to find the hope and determination to reach their dreams. We can infer this because he says, “ I am black. I lie down in the shadow. No longer the light of my dream before

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