Title: Minstrel Man
Author: Langston Hughes
Style: Personal Response
S: Any human being
O: Tire of hiding the he or she feels
A: People who believe that person
is truly happy
P: To raise awareness of a person’s
inner being
S: Reality
Tone: Sorrow
Response:
I believe this poem represents the conscience of everyone in the world when they are in certain points in their life. Most people who see me laughing probably assume I am such a happy guy but they do not seem to realize I am crying inside. It would be easier for me to walk around with my head down but then people would try to give me advice that I would not take heed to. It is also easy to make everyone believe that your stress free too but then I would start to feel worse because all I would be doing is stuffing my emotions into a closet. An individual’s hardships are sometimes meant to be endures by that person alone outside help only bandages the wound but cannot help it heal. In the poem “Minstrel Man” the author Langston Hughes uses diction to develop a deeper meaning by simply using words that are reader friendly. Every word in the poem is words I already know. In the both stanza he uses alliteration and assonance to create the in dept meaning of the voice being portrayed within the poem. He does use any type of rhyming that would cause his poem to fall into the traditional form of poetry. I think his use of the poetry devices enriches his poem rather than diminishes it because the devices help to preserve the tone. He asks questions in the poem that are rhetorical not to feed off the blindness of people on the outside looking in, but to raise awareness. One’s emotions or state of being cannot be assumed by the way one presents his or her self in public.
1 comment:
Adam- I really liked your way of thinkning about this poem. I did this poem too but I took it in a way where the character was not happy by the ways that society conducted towards him. But I liked how you were true to yourself when responding to it by a personal response. I agree with your idea that people go about in showing the way they feel. I am the kind of person who won't show if I am sad or mad I keep things to myslef, which could be a good thing but also harm me. It was good to see that someone else had responded to this poem but in a different way. I really like your way of explaining things too.
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