LESSON – 10

AS I GREW OLDER
About the poet
James Mercer Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an African-American poet, novelist,
playwright and social activist. He wrote his first jazz poem ‘When Sue Wears Red’
while he was in high school. His first poetry book, The Weary Blues, was published in
1926. He continues to be one of the most prominent poets of America. One of his
notable works is Not Without Laughter.
Summary
As I Grew Older begins with a dream that the poet had a long time ago. The poet says
his dream, bright as the sun, was right in front of him until a wall rose between him
and his dream. The poet is an older man now, and he is thinking about his dream,
which he dreamt of a long time ago. He thinks he has almost forgotten his dream. He
remembers that his dream was not fulfilled as a strong barrier was created by his
fellow white people who will not let his dream come true. The wall seems to grow
forever and ever, and it has become so taller that it ‘rose until it touched the sky’. The
dream, which was as bright as the sun, has now turned dark. The wall has become a
long dark shadow and has been blocking his dream. The dream being replaced by a
shadow, the poet has become black.
The poet lies down beside the shadow, which means he feels defeated and helpless.
He finds that his dream is no longer above him and so he feels vanquished. Instead, is
of his dreams, he finds the ‘thick wall’ and the ‘shadow’ above him. A plausible
interpretation can be that the dream of freedom and independences is no longer real
for the blacks, and it has been overshadowed by the wall created by fellow white
people.
‘Dark hands’ refers to the poet’s own hands, the colour of his skin, who will be able to
‘break through the wall’ and ‘find his dream’.
The poet wants to break the wall and shatter the darkness that keeps him from
attending to his dream. He wants to break the shadow into thousand lights of sun and
thousands of whirling dreams.
Glossary
WHIRLING: moving around quickly in a circle.
Choose the correct answers.
1. What is in front of the speaker, bright like the sun?
c. his dream
2. What ‘Rose until it touched the sky’?
b. the wall
 3. According to the speaker, where is the ‘thick wall’?
b. between him and his dream
4. What can the shadow break into?
d. a thousand lights of sun
Answer these questions.
1. What did the speaker have ‘a long time ago’? Does he remember it?
A long time ago the speaker had a dream. No, he has almost forgotten it.
2. What has happened to the dream?
A wall rose between him and his dream.
3. What change has the speaker undergone?
Earlier, the speaker saw the wall between him and his dreams rise and felt
despair but then he got up and broke through the wall with his hands and with
the help of the community.
4. What all does the speaker want to break, smash and shatter?
The speaker wants to break through the wall, smash the night and shatter
the darkness.
5. How does the speaker hope to recapture his dream?
The speaker hopes to break through the wall and break this shadow into a
thousand lights of the sun to
recapture his dream.
6. Which words suggest that the speaker will not give into the darkness?
The lines, ‘Break through the wall! /Find my dream! /Help me to shatter
this darkness’ suggest that the speaker will not give into the darkness.
Answer these questions with reference to the context.
1. But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun
a. What is ‘it’ here?
b. Why isn’t it Bright like a sun’ anymore?
c. What must be done to make ‘it’ shine again?
Answer: a. ‘it’ refers to the speaker’s dream.
b. The dream is not bright like a sun anymore because a wall has arisen
between the speaker and his dream.
c. To make his dream shine again he needs to break through that wall.
2. To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun
Into a thousand whirling dreams
 a. What is the significance of ‘smash’ and ‘break’?
b. What is the tone of the final lines?
c. Why is the word ‘thousand’ repeated?
Answer: a. The speaker here wants to say that if there is any obstacle or wall between
us and our dreams we should smash and break that wall to get closer to our dreams.
b. The final lines are optimistic and inspiring.
c. The word ‘thousand’ is repeated to emphasise the main idea and create rhythm.
Think and answer.
1. Is the poem optimistic or pessimistic? How can you tell?
The poem is optimistic. It shows the speaker’s journey from losing his dream
to fighting the obstacle and finally recapturing it. It talks of hope!
2. Contrast the images of light and darkness used by the speaker.
The images of light is used to show the dream when it is remembered and
nurtured. The light is associated with hope and success, While the darkness, is
used to show obstacles and sorrow that needs to be fought against.

Valuate
Learners should be encouraged to discuss the foundational values. Some points to
consider:
Motivate the learners to share and discuss their opinion on the statement given.
Ask them to think of why these are called foundational values.