THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

POETRY PROJECT

Part 1: Choose a Poet and Poem

While Langston Hughes may be one of the best-known poets of the Harlem Renaissance, there are many
more poets of this movement. Your task will be to choose a poet and ONE of their poems to use for this
project.

Below is a list of poets and some of their more notable poems. Choose a poem that MOST interests
you and that you understand. Do NOT merely choose a poem because of its length — sometimes short
poems are more complex than longer poems!

Highlight the poem and author you have chosen.

Langston Hughes Countee Cullen

● When Will V-Day be Me-Day Too? ● Harlem Wine
● Mother to Son
● I Look at the World Gwendolyn Bennett
● As I Grew Older ● Heritage

James Weldon Johnson Helene Johnson

● To America ● Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem
● My City ● My Race

Claude McKay Fenton Johnson

● To One Coming North ● Tired

Georgia Douglas Johnson

● Common Dust
● Old Black Men
● Brotherhood

** If you have found a different poet and poem, you must have it approved by your teacher. Write the
poet name and poem here:

Part 2: Research the Poet

Once you have chosen your poet and poem, research the poet using the prompts below.

Find an image of your poet and put it in this box: Basic Biography:

Name: Langston Hughs

Born: February 1st, 1901, Joplin MO

Died: May 22nd, 1967, Stuyvesant Polyclinic

Image source link:

https://www.biography.com/writer/langston-hug
hes

IN YOUR OWN WORDS: What are 3 main events or details of their life?

Before he was 12 years old he had lived in six different American cities.

By the time his first book was published, he had already been a truck farmer, cook, waiter, college
graduate, sailor, and a doorman at a nightclub; he had also visited Mexico. He had had lots of diverse
experiences in that short amount of time.

He died from complications from prostate cancer.

IN YOUR OWN WORDS: Describe their poetry/writing: What are they best known for? What are the
main themes or ideas? What was their style like?

Langston Hughs focused his poetry on his frustrations as a black person. How they weren’t treated as
equal. Most of his poems were set in New York, Washington, or Chicago. Hughs wanted to write his
poems so all black Americans could relate to him. He wanted people to know he relates to them, and
can tell their stories. Hughes tends to write a lot of sonnets, uses lots of rhyming in his poems.

List any 3 titles of their writing (poetry, books, essays, etc.):

I, too
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Weary Blues

Links to sources for this section: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes

Part 3: Analyze the Poem

Copy your poem into the space below. Then, using the prompt questions below, analyze the poem.

Use can this poetry terms resource to help.

PLEASE reformat the poem if the font is ginormous or the spacing makes it twelve pages long. If you're
having issues with formatting, please ask your teacher for assistance

Summarize/paraphrase the poem: What is it

Will V-Day Be Me-Day
about? (In the most literal, basic sense.)

Over There, The poem is about someone fighting in World War

II for America’s freedom. Hugh's places an
World War II. overarching question that if America gets their
freedom, will that mean freedom for all, or just
Dear Fellow Americans, those who aren't people of color. The name of the
poem suggests that victory for America, means
I write this letter victory for him and his people too.

Hoping times will be better What is the theme of the poem? (What is the
poem's message?)
When this war
If America wins the war, would that mean victory
Is through. for all, or only for those who at the time were
considered “true Americans”, also known as being
I'm a Tan-skinned Yank white.

Driving a tank. Choose a line from the poem and highlight it in

yellow. Discuss the significance of the line below:
I ask, WILL V-DAY ● How does it contribute to the meaning of
the poem as a whole?
BE ME-DAY, TOO? ● How does the poet use language and/or
poetic devices to convey meaning?
I wear a U. S. uniform. (Consider: tone, diction, figurative
language, imagery, etc.)
I've done the enemy much harm,
This line suggests that he is wondering if he
I've driven back helped America win the war, will he still be
considered a slave. This contributes to the
The Germans and the Japs, overarching question because if America is able to
win freedom, would it include African Americans,
From Burma to the Rhine. or would their lives still be the same. Hughes uses
tone, and diction with this line, asking a serious
On every battle line, question that summarizes the majority of the
poem.
I've dropped defeat
Choose a line from the poem and highlight it in
Into the Fascists' laps. green. Discuss the significance of the line below:
● How does it contribute to the meaning of
I am a Negro American the poem as a whole?
● How does the poet use language and/or
Out to defend my land poetic devices to convey meaning?
(Consider: tone, diction, figurative
Army, Navy, Air Corps— language, imagery, etc.)

I am there. Langston Hughs uses an oxymoron in these lines.

Usually when you think of someone taking off a
I take munitions through, uniform after a war, it feels relieving, you finally
get to go home. But Hughs still has the fear that
I fight—or stevedore, too. even when he is set free, he will still not be safe in
this country.
I face death the same as you do

Everywhere.

I've seen my buddy lying

Where he fell.

I've watched him dying Choose a line from the poem and highlight it in
blue. Discuss the significance of the line below:
I promised him that I would try ● How does it contribute to the meaning of
the poem as a whole?
To make our land a land ● How does the poet use language and/or
poetic devices to convey meaning?
Where his son could be a man— (Consider: tone, diction, figurative
language, imagery, etc.)
And there'd be no Jim Crow birds Langston Hughs wrote these lines to convey that
everyone who is fighting in the war, is at the same
Left in our sky. risk. But whether they will get the same reward or
not, is unknown. He uses tone to convey the dark
So this is what I want to know: truth about war, and that no matter who they are,
they all face the same risk.
When we see Victory's glow,

Will you still let old Jim Crow

Hold me back?

When all those foreign folks who've waited—

Italians, Chinese, Danes—are liberated.

Will I still be ill-fated

Because I'm black?

Here in my own, my native land,

Will the Jim Crow laws still stand?

Will Dixie lynch me still

When I return?

Or will you comrades in arms

From the factories and the farms,

Have learned what this war

Was fought for us to learn?

When I take off my uniform,

Will I be safe from harm—

Or will you do me

As the Germans did the Jews?

When I've helped this world to save,

Shall I still be color's slave?

Or will Victory change

Your antiquated views?

You can't say I didn't fight

To smash the Fascists' might.

You can't say I wasn't with you

in each battle.

As a soldier, and a friend.

When this war comes to an end,

Will you herd me in a Jim Crow car

Like cattle?

Or will you stand up like a man

At home and take your stand

For Democracy?

That's all I ask of you.

When we lay the guns away

To celebrate

Our Victory Day

WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?

That's what I want to know.

Sincerely,

GI Joe.

Link to poem source: https://poets.org/poem/will-v-day-be-me-day-too

Part 4: Reading Poetry Through a Historical Lens

Using your knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance and the poems we explored in class, make
connections to your poem for this project to its historical context.

In 5-6 sentences, discuss how this poem reflects the social issues and/or historical context of the
Harlem Renaissance.

In “Will V-Day Be Me-Day, Too?” Hughes reflects on how he sees racial combat in wars. The inequality
and racism that still exists in America, plays a big part in that he describes that African Americans never
truly felt free after the war. They are at the same risk as everyone else who is fighting, but he describes
that African Americans had to question whether they will get the freedom and change they deserve, or
will life for them not change if they in fact do win the war. This largely covers a bunch of historical
aspects, as race inequality is very prevalent during this time. The question of whether winning the war
would change the racist views on African Americans was very tricky to answer. “Will you herd me in Jim
Crow car, Like cattle?” (Hughs 64-65). This line mentions the Jim Crow laws. Laws that allowed racial
segregation. He uses a simile, “Like cattle”, referring to whether African Americans will be treated
unequal, like a nobody, and the white people would get them together almost like cattle, which could
also be referring to slavery. Hence why the name of the poem is “Will V-Day Be Me-Day, Too?”, they want
to achieve the same victory as the white people will, and be treated equal in the corrupted society.

Skill Not Yet Foundational Proficient Advanced

Biography Some details, Detailed, relevant, Demonstrates an

relevance, or and objectively in-depth outlook of
accuracy as it accurate. Includes the author’s life that
relates to the most significant benefits the reading
author’s life. facts of the author’s of the poem.
life.

Explication Demonstrates the Accurately Demonstrates a

meaning of demonstrates the complex analysis of
individual lines. meaning of individual lines.
individual lines;
including
poetic/literary
devices in
explicating the
poem.

Theme Write a theme Accurately format Demonstrates a

statement. theme statement. complex
understanding of the
Demonstrates an symbolic or
understanding of metaphorical
the symbolic or meaning of the text.
metaphorical
meaning of the text.

Analysis Discusses the poem Articulates Demonstrates a

and the Harlem implications or the complex outlook of
Renaissance. significance of the the implications or
poem as it relates to the significance.
the historical
context of the
Harlem
Renaissance.

Conventions Shows evidence of Follows assignment Shows evidence of

basic proofreading. organization. careful proofreading.

Shows evidence of
proofreading.