Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B”
Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B” Lyrics
Go home and write
A page tonight
And let that page come out of you--
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
To this college on the hill above Harlem
I am the only colored student in my class
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
Through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y
The Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
Up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
At twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
Hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life
I like a pipe for a Christmas present
Or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
The same things other folks like who are other races
So will my page be colored that I write?
But it will be
A part of you, instructor
You are white--
Yet a part of me, as I am a part of you
That's American
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me
Nor do I often want to be a part of you
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you
I guess you learn from me--
Although you're older--and white--
And somewhat more free
This is my page for English B
About
A late poem in Hughes’s career, first published in 1951, 25 years after Hughes debuted with The Weary Blues.
Despite being around 49 when this was published, which takes away from how awesome it would be if this was an actual assignment Hughes did, this poem is worth all of your attention.
“Theme for English B” is Hughes as a master poet, with total control over the English language, and the ability to craft rhythm, pauses, identification, tone, and so on to the point it seems as if the poem is completely spontaneous and right from his mind.
This is one of the poems Hughes will be remembered for.
And, in my opinion, this is one of the contemporary poems that will endure for generations and generations to come, until some English student is reading this with the same amount of context for it as we do for Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, Alexander Pope, the Sophics (Milton and Spenser), and the Romantics (Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge, Blake, Byron, Shelley).
Q&A
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