Analysis of the Stylistics Features of Langston Hughes’s “Negro” Along with Interpretative Comments.

1. Analysis of the Stylistics Features of Langston Hughes’s
“Negro” Along with Interpretative Comments
Sarah Abdulaziz Abdussalam • ID: 3113186 • Section: 7E3 • Oct 9, 2013 • ENG4131

2. Negro
Langston Hughes
1. I am a Negro:
2. Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa.
3. I’ve been a slave:
4. Caesar told me to keep his door-steps clean. I brushed the boots of Washington.
5. I’ve been a worker:
6. Under my hand the pyramids arose. I made mortar for the Woolworth Building.
7. I’ve been a singer:
8. All the way from Africa to Georgia I carried my sorrow songs. I made ragtime.
9. I’ve been a victim:
10. The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo. They lynch me now in Texas.
11. I am a Negro:
12. Black as the night is black, Black like the depths of my Africa.

3. General Interpretation
the poet and the poem
Langston Hughes is a modern African-American poet, social activist, and playwright. He
was born in 1902 and died in 1967. This period witnessed the rise of the minorities and their
voices. One of those minorities is the African-Americans. They suffered from discrimination
and segregation. Therefore, Hughes’s literary output focused on racism, equality, and the
history of the African-Americans.
The poem “Negro” shows Hughes’s high sense of rootedness and his pride in his identity.
It is divided into six short stanzas. Those stanzas present a panoramic picture of the history of
African-American people. Starting and ending with their identity, stressing their
contributions to the civilization, and how they have been treated all along. The tone combines
various emotions beginning from pride, to sadness, to disappointment.

4. The Application
stylistics features and interpretive comments
Parallelism
Lexical Item:
In the lines 2 and 12, there is a repetition of one word that is “black.” The color which causes
the suffering and the underestimating of the Africans. Hughes repeats its name in a sense of
pride. He is romanticizing about his roots because he had been rejected as an American. He
wants to prove that he has an identity in spite of that.
Style:
The four stanzas in the middle explore the dark history of the African-Americans. However,
the first and the sixth stanzas are the same and they show that they did not lose their self-
esteem after all.
Lexical Grouping:
In the first stanza these words occur: negro, black, night, Africa, and depths. All of them
indicate the identity, history and uniqueness of African-Americans. Negro, black, and night
refer to their color. Africa and depths refer to their roots. Night could also indicate their dark
history of suffering.

5. Semantic-syntactic deviation
In the lines 4 and 6, the persona claims some achievements. However, it is not literally the
persona nor the poet who achieved them. They are metaphorical, speaking on behalf of all
Africans pointing to their contribution to many civilizations.
In the eighth line, the speaker says metaphorically that he created the jazz genre to express
his sorrow. Here, too, he is speaking on behalf of the Africans.
In the tenth line, there are pictures of agony. It is written in first person, but that does not
mean the speaker actually was exposed to them. It is a metaphor showing how the Africans
have been tormented.
Grammar
Each stanza starts with an assertion with some sort of claim, then a colon. The colon
indicates that there is illustration to follow. Each illustration contains two sentences . This
structural parallelism opposes the fragmented history and tone. And this opposition indicates
the two sides of the poem, the truth which is bad and his feelings which is good.

6. Definiteness and Generics
Every stanza begins with an identification using an indefinite article which means that these
assertion is not personal or specific. On the contrary, any African can sing this poem and
sense that it expresses his/her own identity. They knew they are unified because of their
color, feelings in their hearts, and thoughts in their minds. They are sharing the same past,
catastrophe and segregation.
Tense
In the stanzas 2 - 5, the poet used present perfect and the past tenses. The present perfect
suggests that he was and still a slave, a worker, a singer, and a victim. It is not important when
exactly it started and ended. The effect of these historical facts takes place no matter where
you touch in the African history. The past tense also is used to impose the idea of presenting a
view to the African history. In the first and last stanzas, however, he used the present tense to
indicate that no matter how hard they try to uproot him, to displace him, he is still and always
will be an African.
Pronouns
There is a tendency to use possessive determiners. The most prominent example is “my
Africa” in the second and twelfth lines. He wants to highlights where he belongs to and that
even though he was taken away and enslaved, no one can take that away from him.
Sound Patterns
The first and last stanzas are identical. From stanzas in between follow one pattern: The first
line of each stanza consists of four words and the the second line consists of two sentences.
This structural parallelism highlights the result of each fact on his identity.

7. Conclusion
The poem took us in ride to see the sorrows and achievements of the Africans. It shows us
what all the singing and strength of the Africans conceal behind them. The short stanzas with
fragmented incidents that took place in fragmented times reflects the psychological effect of
their dispersion.