Literary analysis paper from a historical perspective - Essay Example

Literary Analysis Paper from Historical Perspective Full Literary analysis from historical perspective as implied would be the close examination of a literary piece on the basis of gender, race and events during which the poem or story was written. Analyzing literary works can be a tedious task without knowing anything about the author nor the time and placed he lived in because literature is inspired by observations and personal experiences of the author. The writing is greatly affected by an author’s reaction to current happenings so that the result most likely reflects a historical background in the concept portrayed in literary works.

Words used in the literary pieces also give away the race and perhaps the gender of the author as will be seen in this paper on the analysis of two of Langston Hughes’ poems. As a Harlem Renaissance writer, Hughes had his own taste of the bitter pill of racial discrimination in the field he had chosen where black poets were given few if not no chance at all for their works to be published (Hutchinson, 1995). As his people were fighting for equal rights as their white counterparts, Hughes definitely experienced the difficulties of such a situation; not to mention the troubles he met in his personal life.

Hughes’ parents separated after his birth and he lived in several cities as a result of his mother transferring from one city to another to find a job. After high school, he went to live with his father who became a successful cattle rancher in Mexico, escaping the racism in the north where the young writer went back home after one year (. His works are reminiscent of such facts, picturing his life and background. Dream Deferred depicts the hopelessness brought about by weariness when a dream is postponed.

Being recognized among the great poets in his time, Hughes most probably did not just speak for his own dreams but the ideals of his people as well. Black Americans had their dreams as much as white Americans did however, the culmination of such dreams have been far from sight as implied in the poem. The author looked at the deferment of a dream to be as ugly as the raisin dried in the sun, as nerve wrenching as a sore that runs, stinks as rotten meat or as burdening as a heavy load. Such comparison exposes the things and observations the author had been experienced, showing the realities of life as he saw them through his eyes.

Mother to Son reflects the Harlem background of the author with the use of sentence constructions that are distinct in Black Americans. ‘Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair’ is just one of the lines that show this noticeable characteristic of Hughes’ people in contrast to that of white Americans who speak the English language as it is taught in formal schools. The poem talks about the encouragement of a mother to his son who is about to give up on life, saying she has survived life’s atrocities.

Tacks, splinters, torn boards and bare floors are literarily used as metaphors to symbolize the cruelty of hardships the mother has been through who, at her own time was not able to escape the difficulties the son is currently going through. The poem is also a representation of the intensity of the difficult times for the black Americans who strove to survive in such a circumstance. It also shows the bond between mother and child in a black family. The two poems of Hughes mirrors what was considered by white Americans as critical realism (Hutchinson, 1995), expressing one’s thoughts on his observations about the realities of life.

Assessing the poems on a historical perspective truly has given clearer understanding of the poem. Just reading them without understanding the history of the poems leads someone to consider the poem in a general sense of dreams for Dream Deferred and encouragement for Mother to Son. Reference Hutchinson, George. 1995. The Harlem Renaissance in Black and White. Google books. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=4g3r4uqthjAC&dq=harlem+renaissance+scholarly+articls&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=gDJLTYftF8yxrAf0m7ycDg&sa=X&oi=book_resulct=result&resnum=11&ved=0CGIQ6AEwCg#v=one.

Mike and Mitchell. 2004. Langston Hughes: A True Legacy. Retrieved from http://langstonhughes.8m.com/