As I Grew Older By Langston Hughes - Poem Analysis

“As I Grew Older,” by Langston Hughes carries a theme that no matter what stands in
the way of someone’s dream you can always find your dream and fight for it. Throughout
the poem, Hughes refers to different symbols to show the barriers between blacks and
whites in society.

In the first stanza of this poem, Hughes writes that his dream was: “in front of me, bright
like a sun—My dream.” Hughes’s dream is the dream of a non-racist society in America
and the freedom for anyone to do what they choose and be treated equally. At the same
time, Hughes’s dream can also be treated as Hughes’s future. Hughes’s dream first
appeared to be “bright like the sun” because when you’re a child, you aren’t aware
of what’s actually happening around you. Children don’t know the true reasons for why
their community is the way that it is and Hughes’s didn’t understand either. Hughes’s
dream was bright because he wasn’t old enough to realize that there would be things in
his way keeping him from his dream. Also, it’s important to note that Hughes’s says “My
dream” to show possession of the idea he holds. This is later related to other possessions
Hughes’s describes in his poem. Another reason why Hughes’s writes “my dream” is
because Hughes’s dream was different from a white man at the time.

Facing discrimination throughout hislife, Hughes’s continues to describe racism when

Hughes’s writes “And then a wall rose, rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream.”
The wall Hughes’s refers to is the wall of discrimination. This wall “slowly” blocked his
dream. Hughes’s describes the blockage as slow to show the many small efforts people
used to keep America segregated.

In the third stanza, Hughes’s writes that the wall “rose until it touched the sky--. The
wall. Shadow. I am black. Ilie down in the shadow.” There are many things going on in
this stanza that illustrates Hughes’s place in society at that time and the extent of racism.
The reader should notice that Hughes’s first writes that the wall rose upto touch the sky in
a single line but he then breaks up the words in the following lines to act as if the action
was taking place with the words. First Hughes’s describes what is moving up and he
writes on a single line, “TheWall.” Then Hughes’s continues to describe what happens
when the wall is in place and that’s “Shadow.” In the third single line Hughes’s confirms
(if not already known), “I am black.” This simple description is then followed by a single
line with, “I lie down in the shadow.” “The Wall” that Hughes’s describes is a symbol
of the white people who were racist. This wall casts a “shadow” over Hughes and this
shadow represents the restrictions and laws that were made in discrimination against
black people.

Once the shadow is created, Hughes’s writes: “I am black,” which is literally the current
state of his shadowed atmosphere but more so the fact that Hughes’s is African
American. Then he tells the reader that he’s lying down in the shadow. This shadow is
describing the lower conditions that African American’s had to live with in the midst of
segregated America. Hughes’s ends this stanza by saying “No longer the light of my
dream before me, Above me.” Since his dream is no longer above him, the dream is
beneath him. This can be interpreted as saying that the dream of freedom and equality is
unrealistic or it’s saying that the dream has been temporarily disabled because of the wall
created by white people. In order to break free of his restrictions, Hughes describes his
“dark hands” that will be able to “break throughthe wall,” and “find his dream. The dark
hands Hughes describes is his culture and his own people. Hughes believes that with
perseverance African Americans can break through the wall created by white people and
find their dreams.

In the last stanza, Hughes says that these hands can: “help me shatter this darkness, to
smash this night, to break this shadow into a thousand lights of the sun, into a thousand
whirling dreams of sun!” “Shatter” adds more emphasis to Hughes description of how
African Americans will prevail through civil rights and by breaking the shadow into a
thousand lights of the sun the blacks are breaking the restrictions cast by white people
and making society equal as a whole. The darkness is the shadow that was created by the
wall that grew taller and taller. Hughes is able to break the darkness and let light in
through the wall.

He uses imagery to describe his own ability to overcome prejudice in his society.
Langston Hughes ends his poem by describing the dreams to becoming: “of sun!” to
show that his dream may still be too far to reach but when reached will shine brighter
than all of the dreams ever to come true. The light from the sun is seen by Hughes again
and it’s as if he and his dreams were reunited.

Overall Theme Of the Poem

The overall them of this poem is the injustice of racial discrimination and how because of
the speaker's skin color it became the thing to block out his dream. As a child he was
ignorant of his skin color and he saw the world around him as a place for opportunity,
which was true but back then not true for African Americans. As he grew he saw that
racism was the thing that separated him and people from the rest of the world. He wants
the strength to break through the metaphoric wall he has made up in his mind. This poem
tells us not to be racist because every single person in the world has enough potential to
become whatever they wish to be as they grow older.

"As I Grew Older" by Langston Hughes

"As I Grew Older"
The speaker is now finally content and calm with satisfaction of what he has done, and
imagines the wall and the shadow finally breaking because he wants, "To break this
shadow/Into a thousand lights of sun/Into a thousand whirling dreams/Of sun!". The
"night" or the wall, has all the dreams he had built up piling on top of one another
building that wall. Now finally he was able to break it and all of his wishes were all
finally free to be fulfilled. His dream came raining down on him like specks of light "Of
sun", and pieces of dreams all African Americans had during that time. Hughes uses the
violent tone in "break", to show how the speaker was suddenly empowered to stand up
for what was right, not only for him but all of his brothers and sisters that were also being
blocked by the wall of injustice. By confronting this obstacle the speaker has finally
found his voice and purpose in life, which is to help stop discrimination, and even though
he knows that he might not be able to fully break it he willing to try to for the sake of
himself. his family, and for the good of his people.

By: Sabrina Khan,

Bijoux Bohon,
& Serena Tan-Torres
"As I Grew Older"
The speaker's tone suddenly becomes even more committed and energetic when he says,
"Help me to shatter this darkness/To smash this night". The speaker uses violent language
such as "shatter" and "smash" to show how strongly he feels about this matter. He is
asking his hand, actually commanding his hands to help him and his courage and strength
to break through the wall to get to the other side where his dreams lie awaiting his return.

"As I Grew Older"

"As I Grew Older
"As I Grew Older"
It was a long time ago.

I have almost forgotten my dream.

But it was there then,

In front of me,

Bright like a sun—

My dream.

And then the wall rose,

Rose slowly,

Slowly,

Between me and my dream.

Rose until it touched the sky—

The wall.

Shadow.

I am black.

I lie down in the shadow.

No longer the light of my dream before me,

Above me.

Only the thick wall.

Only the shadow.

My hands!

My dark hands!

Break through the wall!

Find my dream!

Help me to shatter this darkness,

To smash this night,

To break this shadow

Into a thousand lights of sun,

Into a thousand whirling dreams

Of sun!

After some time the speaker tone being sorrowful we suddenly see dramatic shift to a
tone full of determination and vigor, when he excitedly exclaims, "My hands!/My dark
hands!/Break through the wall". The speaker forcefully commands his "dark hands" to
"break through the wall" of injustice so that he can finally achieve his dream. He doesn't
care about what anyone thinks anymore he just wants to be free and independent and to
have choices of becoming what he wants to be instead of someone telling him what to do
and what to be. His "dark hands" shows us that he is and African American.

The tone of the speaker goes from guilt suddenly to broken and sorrowful when he
describes how he, "lie down in the shadow/no longer the light of my dream before
me...only the thick wall/only the shadow". Since he realizes he can no longer reach his
dream, he symbolizes how he, "lie down in the shadow", he cannot see the light and
happiness anymore. Young African American children might have experienced a few
years of blissful ignorance but slowly must have realized their positions as slaves and
lower class citizens, which then must have rose up a wall of insecurities, injustice, and
shards of broken dreams and wishes, blocking out the only light they knew. This doesn't
mean that his dream is gone, is just means that he can't see it anymore because it has been
blocked by the wall. He can only see a little shadow of the dream on the other side
waiting to be found again.

"As I Grew Older"

The speaker describes the wall as an obstacle to achieving his dreams, which we find out
is to become a freedman, In a dejected and listless tone he says, "The wall/ Shadow/ I am
black". The wall also represents injustice and discrimination against African Americans
due to white supremacy. It shows this when he talks about his skin color, "I am black",
and the shadow is over him when he stands by the wall also showing his skin color. The
shadow is also representing the life he has had to live because of his skin color, and his
dream of becoming a freedman is know blocked by the wall, this wall of sadness and
despair. This is also straightforward symbolism-the speaker represents all African
Americans who had to relinquish their dreams due to racial discrimination against them
before.

This poem is like a story where the speaker starts off by telling us about a dream he used
to have. In the start of the poem he describes himself as an ignorant child having a dream
as "bright like the sun...And then the wall rose...Between me and my dream". As a child
he had a mindset that anything in the world is achievable. He describes this in the
metaphor of this dream being "bright like the sun", Later on in life there comes a point
where he grows up and more responsibilities come and he realizes there are limitations
and obstacles that he has to overcome, Hughes describes this in a apathetic tone "And
then the wall rose... between me and my dream". In life there sometimes comes an
obstacle, which is almost impossible to overcome , and blocks us from the things that
really matter like dreams.

"As I Grew Older"

By: Langston Hughes

Poem Analysis “As I Grew Older,” by Langston Hughes

Time passes by, leaving behind memories but dreams never fade. They are
immortalised in ones’ souls. In the poem, “As I Grew Older” by Langston Hughes, the
persona’s dreams are immortalised since his childhood although he faces numerous
obstacles in achieving them. The poem is about one’s dream in life. In the quest of his
journey, the persona encounters enormous number of challenges and barriers. The theme
of this poem revolves around the strong willingness and the hardship needed for ones to
achieve their goals. For teenagers, dreams seem to be their inspiration in life. They are
stronger with the presence of dreams in their life. The persona first introduces his poem
with the…show more content…
It is showed in lines ‘I am black’ (line 14) and ‘I lie down in the shadow’ (line 15). For
those who believe that they can achieve and acquire their dreams, they will certainly
come out from the ‘shadow’ and run towards their dreams along the route of success as in
the lines ‘Break through the wall’ (line22) and ‘Find my dream!’(line 23).

(1)

There is an ample number of literary devices in the poem “As I Grew

Older” by Langston Hughes. The most prominent one is simile as in the line ‘Bright like
a sun’. The poet compares his dream as bright as a sun. It is understood that the sun is the
symbol of brightness and clearness (Simpsom & Weiner, 1989). So does the persona’s
dream. It is so clear to him, shines and never fades in his life. Apart from that, the wall is
used is to symbolise the hardships and barriers that need to be encountered by the
persona. The symbolism of wall as the hardship and barriers are really effective in this
poem. The wall is depicted as hardship, barrier, limitations, conformity, exclusion,
imprisonment, alienation and isolation (Calvo & Jacques, 1998) that arises slowly but
leaves a gigantic impact on the persona’s life. ‘And then the wall rose’ (line 7), ‘Rose
slowly’ (line 8). The persona is drawn back in his life by the arisen wall as ‘I lie down in
the shadow’ (line 15). The line ‘I lie in the shadow’ depicts that the persona has given up
hope in his life, being restless, refuse to strive anymore for his life and
What Does The Poem As I Grew Older By Langston Hughes Mean?

The literal meaning of this poem is that because he is black, Langston Hughes is unable
to achieve his dreams.

As a child, he was unaware of the cruelty of the world and in his innocent optimism dared
to dream of achieving great things.

As time went by and he got older, he realized that because of prejudice, racism and
discrimination, his opportunities were limited and he was thus blocked from being able to
achieve his dreams.

He uses figurative language to describe this tragic, literal reality. A simile, the
comparison of two things by using as or like, is used to describe his childhood dreams as
being 'bright like a sun'.

Using a metaphor, the comparison of two things without the use of as or like, he then
goes on to describe prejudice, racism, discrimination and all the other obstacles thrown
into his path by the world as a 'wall'.

This 'wall', as he goes on, kept rising 'until it touched the sky'. To put it another way, the
world, the wall, blocked out the vision of his dreams, the sun, thus making it more or less
impossible to achieve them.

The resulting despair is described as, or compared to, shadow as he goes on to say that in
his defeat, 'I lie down in the shadow'.

All of these figurative symbols, the sun, the wall, the light and the darkness, are carried
throughout the poem to the end, when he despairingly orders his hands to push through
the wall to enable him to achieve his dreams.

Only when he declares 'I am black' and exclaims 'My dark hands', does he use literal
language. This blunt truthfulness makes it particularly startling.

The fact that the single reason for these obstacles is his black skin makes it even more
hurtful.