The Poem Negro by Langston Hughes Essay -- Poetry Analysis

The poem â€Å"Negro† was written by Langston Hughes in 1958 where it was a time of African American development and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Langston Hughes, as a first person narrator tells a story of what he has been through as a Negro, and the life he is proud to have had. He expresses his emotional experiences and makes the reader think about what exactly it was like to live his life during this time. By using specific words, this allows the reader to envision the different situations he has been put through. Starting off the poem with the statement â€Å"I am a Negro:† lets people know who he is, Hughes continues by saying, â€Å" Black as the night is black, /Black like the depths of my Africa.† He identifies Africa as being his and is proud to be as dark as night, and as black as the depths of the heart of his country. Being proud of him self, heritage and culture is clearly shown in this first stanza. The structure of this poem is not the traditional form of poetry, in that he begins with a first person statement then after an indentation, he elaborates on it almost lik...