The poem "Ballad of a Landlord" by Langston Hughes tells the story of a struggle between a black tenant and his white landlord. The tenant complains about issues like a leaky roof and broken steps, but the landlord ignores the problems. In frustration, the tenant threatens the landlord, who then calls the police. The tenant is arrested. Throughout the poem, Hughes reveals how black people had little power and were dominated by whites in early 20th century America.

1. Maiko Yoshida
English 11
Period 8
Ballad of a Landlord
“Ballad of a Landlord” by Langston Hughes is a narrative poem about a
struggle between a black tenant and a white landlord. The black tenant threatens to punch
the landlord because the landlord ignores fixing a house. Then the landlord calls the
police and the tenant is thrown the jail. Throughout the poem, Hughes reveals the
powerlessness of black people in the United States.
From line 1 to 20, a speaker is a black tenant, who lives in difficult
circumstances such as his “roof has sprung a leak” (2) and the steps are “broken down”
(6). Hughes suggests the inference with sarcastic tone that even though the tenant has
serious maintenance problem, he argues that the landlord never comes up himself to his
house. The tenant’s feeling of anger and frustration toward the landlord gradually
increases from neutral tone as the poem go through. The rhetorical questions express the
tenant’s argumentative and aggressive feeling such as “ten bucks you say I owe you?”(9)
or “You gonna get eviction orders?” (13). Therefore, from those lines, the author shows
that even if blacks demand their wishes, white people never grant it.
From 21 lines to 24, the speaker has changed from the tenant to the landlord.
This stanza shows how much white people have a prejudice against black people. He calls
police with exaggerated statement, “He’s trying to ruin the government and overturn the
land!” (23-24). The landlord lies to get the tenant into the jail with hysterical complaint.
From line 25 to the end of the poem, a narrator starts talking. The lines 25-27,

2. which are written with short sentences show how fast and easy the event happens. The
clanging sounds, “Copper’s whistle” (25) and “patrol bell” (26) make sound imagery to
make readers imagine how the whites get all upset about this trivial event. The 27th line,
“arrest” (27) has two meanings, which are he is actually arrested, and everything has
stopped and has been done. The last three lines are written as newspaper’s headline,
which include extreme bias. They say it is not fully the truth. Although it is true that the
tenant “TREATENS” (31) the landlord, the person who threatens first is the landlord.
But the press never mentions it. From this part, it is obvious that not only does the
landlord dominate a black man, but a whole American society also does.
At the time Hughes wrote this poem, because white people controlled blacks,
black people were powerless in everything. They even could not argue about their living
conditions to whites. Hughes shows the theme that black people have no power in the
world dominated by white people.