I, Too

Common card · No. 496637

"I, Too" is a poem written by Langston Hughes that shows a craving for equality, endured for far longer than any poem could convey on its own. Hughes’ poems only add to the ‘’poetic tradition'’ (Nelson. E. S. 2015) of his forefathers, a practice born of generations of african americans striving to keep their own poetic traditions alive by incorporating their want for equality into poetry and art. A ‘’quest for freedom'’ (Nelson. E. S. 2015), like that seen in multiple pieces of Hughe's work, is a common theme that has characterised African American poetry throughout history. Hughes's poem tackles these issues head-on, from a personal, almost confessional perspective. The poem opens on a domestic scene, emphasising the common place nature of the exclusion that the speaker experiences, being constantly surrounded by actions of discrimination that he cannot escape even within a homely setting. By giving artistic word to the experience faced by hundreds of black americans that would have made...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Langston Hughes, Public domain