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Nikita Wilkins Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

Ms. Jacobs

English II

29 October 2017

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Poetic Analysis: Ballad of the Landlord by Langston Hughes Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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The Ballad of the Landlord by Langston Hughes (1940) highlights the common conflict
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between tenants and landlords. In Hughes poem, he takes the reader through an argument Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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between a tenant and landlord. The argument is started when the renter asks the landlord to make Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt
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repairs to the roof, which had sprung a leak and the steps, which are described as being

broken down (lines 2, 6). As soon as the tenant asks about repairs, the landlord asks about the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

rent. When the tenant refuses to pay the rent until the repairs are made, the landlord uses his

power to talk down to the renter. The renter, who is feeling like he is being taken advantage of, Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

threatens to hit the landlord. As soon as he threatens the landlord, the police are called. The

renter is arrested and thrown in jail. The speaker narrator of the poem even list imagines the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt
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headline that the newspapers would run about him. In reading the poem, the speaker and theme

are two elements that had a great influence on the way readers can interpreted the poem. Hughes Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

is able to get the reader to feel as if her or she is arguing with the landlord and understanding the

narrators frustration by using the elements of speaker and theme.

The element of speaker in literature drives the conflict or situation plot within the text. In Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

Hughes Ballad of the Landlord, the reader can easily identify the speaker. In the poem, the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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speaker is a tenantalso the narrator for most of the poem. In the first stanza, the speaker recalls Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt
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having already told the landlord about the roof leaking last week (lines 2-3). Furthermore, the

speaker references the steps and the poor condition they are in. As the poem goes on, the third

stanza highlights the growing frustration of the speaker. The repetition of Ten Bucks feels like

the speaker may be repeating his or herself out of frustration. It is similar to your parent calling

your name over and over and how upset they get having to repeat themselves.

Once the speaker talks about going without heat and having their belongings thrown on

the street, the speaker gets a different voice in the poem. Although it started off as very calm and

modest, the thought of going ging without some necessities angers the speaker. The tenant tone

immediately changes to defensive and eventually ends with in a threat. The reader can

understand how the thought of having no heat or being evicted in from an apartment where the

landlord won't even make repairs can make the speaker angry. The speaker makes a threat based

on the fact that the landlord refuses to make the repairs and demands the rent. The speaker

threatened to land my fist on(line 20) the landlord, which is last words the speaker says.

Following the threat, the speaker changes to the landlord, the reader then sees how the landlord

plays victim and has the original speaker sent to jail. The change in s speakers allows the reader

to feel just as helpless as the original speaker. The original speaker is the one with the voice that

pulled the readers in, but after making the threat-he loses his voice. As the speaker loses his

voice, the themes of the poem becomes clearer.

Although the tone of the poem changes as each stanza ends, the themes of the poem are

evident. The main themes of the poem are racism, power, and injustice. The very last line of the

poem reads JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL(line 33). The reader

witnesses how the has read as the speaker goes went from making sensible requests and being

ignored to being jailed. Based on what the reader knows about how the landlord has been
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treating the tenant, it seems that racism and injustice are the reasons that the speaker was unjustly

jailed. Even more, it explains as to why the story made the press. As the speaker and landlord go

back and forth, the power struggle is also noticeable. The theme of power, or uneven power, is

visible in how unmoved the landlord is in the request. Never once in the poem does the landlord

reply to the tenant's request for repairs. He doesnt even say no. That is a show of power and

authority, because the reader can infer that he doesnt even care about the repairs, -just getting

his money. As the three themes work together the reader is able to deeply feel the speakers

frustration.

In conclusion, the themes of racism, power, and injustice influences the readers ability to

feel the same feelings as the speaker. The two elements of speaker and theme work together to

guide the readers feelings towards the poem, . with WIth the tenantsspeakers frustration

towards the landlord and the much needed repairs growing with each line, the themes, which are

highlighted by the overall situation plot of the poem, help the reader to understand the frustration

and feelings of the tenant. With racism, power, and injustice driving the landlord and the judge,

the reader begins to feel just as frustrated, helpless, and angry as the tenant speaker. Hughes does

a great job of pulling the readers feelings out without literally saying how the speaker feels. The

poem still make sense today as we think about the rights of poor people.
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Works Cited

The Ballad of the Of The Landlord by Langston Hughes. By Langston Hughes - Famous

poems, famous poets. - All Poetry, allpoetry.com/The-Ballad-Of-The-Landlord.

Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. , W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.