As I Grew Older

--Langston Hughes

About Poet:

Name: James Mercer Langston Hughes

Born: February 1, 1902 Joplin, Missouri, United States

Died: May 22, 1967 (aged 65)

New York City, New York, United States

Famous Work:

Poetry
 The Weary Blues, 1926
 Fine Clothes to the Jew, 1927
 The Negro Mother and Other Dramatic Recitations, 1931
Novels and short story collections
 Not Without Laughter, 1930
 The Ways of White Folks, 1934
 Simple Speaks His Mind, 1950
 Laughing to Keep from Crying, 1952

About Poem:

“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. As a child, he was unaware of the cruelty of the world and in his
innocent optimism, dared to dream of achieving great things. Throughout
the poem, Hughes refers to different symbols to show the barriers between
blacks and whites in society. The poem was published in his collections of
poems, The Weary Blue

Analysis by Poem:

In the first stanza of this poem, Hughes writes that his dream was in front of
him, bright like a sun. Hughes’s dream was 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 one is a child, one would not be aware of what is actually
happens around. Children do not know the true reasons for why the society
is the way that it is and Hughes’s did not understand either. Hughes’s dream
was bright because he was not old enough to realize that there would be
things in his way keeping him from his dream. In addition, it is important to
note that Hughes’s says “My dream” to show possession of the idea he holds.

Facing discrimination throughout his life, Hughes continues to describe

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

In the third stanza, Hughes writes that the wall rose until it touched the sky.
There are many elements in the stanza that illustrates Hughes’s place in
society at that time and the extent of racism. The reader should notice that
Hughes writes that the wall rose up to the sky in a single line. Nonetheless,
he breaks up the words in the following lines, to act as if the action was
taking place with the words. Firstly, Hughes describes what is moving up
and he writes on a single line, “The Wall”. Then Hughes continues to
describe, what happens when the wall is in place and that is “Shadow”. In the
third single line, Hughes confirms (if not already known), “I am black.” A
single line with, “I lie down in the shadow” then follows this simple
description. “The Wall”, which Hughes 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 writes, “I am black”, which is literally

the current state of his shadowed atmosphere. Nevertheless, the fact was
that Hughes is African American. Then, he tells the reader that he is lying
down in the shadow. This shadow is describing the lower conditions that
African Americans have had to live, within the midst of segregated America.
Hughes 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 by saying that the dream of freedom
and equality is unrealistic or it is saying that the dream has been temporarily
disabled because of the wall created by white people. In order to free himself
of his restrictions, Hughes describes his “dark hands” that will be able to
“break through the wall”, and find his dream. The dark hands, Hughes
describes, are 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, the word “Shatter” adds more emphasis to Hughes
description of how African Americans would 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 would be able to break the darkness and let the
light in, through the wall.

He uses imagery to describe his own ability to overcome prejudices, in the

society. Langston Hughes ends his poem by saying that his dream may still
be too far to reach, but when reached will shine brighter than any other
being. Hughes sees the light from the sun again and it is as if he and his
dreams were reunited.

Figurative language:

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'. 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.