Comparison of a Poem to a Song - Coursework Example

The poem “theme for English B” is a poem written at the peak of racial discrimination in the year 1951. In the poem, “theme for English B” Hughes talks about the differences between him and his class instructor (Bloom, pg 21). The poet talks about being the only colored person in his class and shows the feeling of his likeness to other races, solely “ white” and yet different throughout the poem. Using his community (Harlem) as an inspiration Hughes manages to write a poem that depicts his ethnic affiliation.

The class instructor gave a precise brief description of the assignment that is, go home, write a page tonight, and let the page be the original thoughts of students (Fetzer, pg 23). The persona in the poem remains uncertain on whether the task is that easy as portrayed by the class instructor. Afterwards, the student outlines the reasons substantiating his thought that such an assignment could not be easy. The speaker in the poem “theme for English B” is older compared to most white students in the English class.

Secondly, the student gives the route he takes from school to his residence where the narrator sits to do his assignment (Bloom, pg 46). The student perceives the difficulty in writing true ideals or something that is only purported to be true. This judgment was at the discretion of the white class instructor. The student plunges into listing what he likes, subsequently supposing that being colored does not make him different from the things he likes as other races. The speaker in the poem is bothered if his black identity will make a difference in what he writes (Fetzer, pg 44).

Secondly, he wonders whether he will be able to talk with a white tutor given that he is black. Despite these ill feelings, the speaker in the poem finally admits that both of them are part of each other. The speaker then delves into an extremely significant conclusion that as the black students learn from the white tutor, the instructor equally learns from the black student. The tone of Langston Hughes in his poem befits the description of mildly ironical’ as he shows his difficulty in earnestly communicating his own feelings at the specifications of his white tutor of English.

 Irony is manifest in the poem where he commences by saying “I wonder if it is that simple,” but at the end of the poem, he succeeds in doing just that in a remarkably correct manner. His actual inner being comprises of two distinguishing aspects; he is black and very different from the instructor of his class. Secondly, he is an American just like every other American inclusive of his tutor. The author of the poem embraces a conciliatory tone that acknowledges the fact that the two races are part of each other.

Nevertheless, the poem ends on a tone full of regret somewhat more free. Besides poems, songs are also excellent mediums of creating awareness or sensitizing the society. An example is the song we shall be free by Garth Brooks. The song “We Shall Be Free” is a song produced by American country music artist during the year 1992. The artist was born on February 7, 1962 in America. The artist in the release of this song collaborated with Stephanie Davis. In this song, an ordinary man conceives of a world in which human beings are free from earthly subjugations.

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