I liked this weekends Blog Post Assignment because I don’t frequently read poetry. The Langston Hughes poems that we read were overall very powerful and insightful; however, there were two poems that stuck out to me the most. The first poem that stuck out to me is titled Dreams. Although the poem is only eight lines long, it truly speaks to the reader. The poem talks about how you should hold onto your dreams because if you do not, then you are not going to live life to its fullest. From there, the poem adds onto the first point by stating that you need to hold onto your dreams because if not, “Life is a barren field, Frozen with snow.” Without dreams and aspirations, life is boring and hard. Those dreams and aspirations allow people to have a more fulfilling and exciting life. I believe that this poem is very important because in modern society, a persons day is very repetitive. Often times, people repeat the same task almost every single day which can get very boring. This poem essentially encourages the reader or listener to continue to dream and follow those dreams.
The second poem that was very powerful and meaningful was Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too? This poem not only talks about the Second World War but also describes an individual and his experience in the war. More specifically, he talks about how he has “driven back the Germans and the Japs, From Burma to the Rhine.” In addition to that, the individual talks about how he watched his friend die. He promised that he would try to make America a place where the dying man’s son could live without Jim Crow. The title of the poem is a question asking that once the war is over, will African Americans finally become equals and live without Jim Crow. He then talks about hos the Italians, Chinese, Danes have all been liberated but the black community still has not been. I believe that this poem is very powerful because thousands of African Americans fought in the war hoping that when they returned, they would finally be liberated. Unfortunately, when they returned they were still treated the same as before the war. The shame is that the black community supported the American war effort and fought for democracy, freedom, and everything else that the United States represents; however, they were fighting for things that they didn’t have. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the poems by Langston Hughes but the two that are mentioned above stood out to me the most.
I too highlighted these exact two poems and thought they were interesting. I thought the “V DAY” poem brought up alot of important points we discussed in class, most importantly the line where Hughes asks if he will be put in a “Jim crow car” upon his return from war. It is sad to think that these thoughts were going through people of color’s minds at this time. Next, the Dreams poem was exciting to me. For people struggling so much at the time still be able to realize the importance of dreams and a pursuit is so awesome to see and read about.