Still Here
- Langston Hughes
I been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,
Looks like between ‘em they done
Tried to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–
But I don’t care!
I’m still here!
Introduction
The poem Still Here written by Langston Hughes is full of
grammatical errors that have been deliberately made probably to challenge the
Supremacy of Whites over the language. Langston Hughes, an African-American has
suffered discrimination on the basis of his color.
Part 1:
Discrimination Against Blacks
The poet begins the poem by saying that he has been scared
and even punished. (scared and battered). This
fear and pain are like a violent wind which has shattered or in other words
killed the hope of the Black People.
Here it must be noted that the poet uses “I”
which rather represents his whole race. And we also find the deliberate
misspelling of the words to challenge the White Supremacy. This is a kind of
revolt by the Blacks.
In the next lines, the poet says, Snow
has friz me, Sun has baked me. Snow and Sun symbolize
two extremes of harshness. According to the poet, the Blacks were frozen or
isolated and also beaten up so that they may give up the very hope they had.
Other interpretations of these lines can be as follows.
According to the poet, the slaves or the Blacks were made to work in all harsh
conditions ranging from chilling cold to burning hot which have made the Blacks
to never give up the hope of living.
This in this perspective the poem can also be considered as
an inspirational one that encourages us to never give up under all
circumstances.
Part 2: Hope to Live
Back to the poem, the poet says that the Whites tried every
method to make the slaves give up. In the words of the poet, they
done Tried to make me Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’.
The line means that they have tried to make him or the
people of his race to stop laughing, loving or just living. But they don’t care
and they are still there having the hope and living their life.
Thus the poem’s tone and mood changes in the end. If we
analyze the poem as an inspirational one, we can conclude that the poet wants
us to keep hope alive because it is the hope that keeps our body alive. You can
find discourses about the poem on this site.
Critical Analysis of
Langston Hughes Still Here
Langston Hughes was an incredible American poet, novelist,
and playwright. He was a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural
movement in the 1920s that celebrated African American art, literature, and
music. Hughes’s poetry often explored the experiences of African Americans,
capturing the joys, struggles, and resilience of their lives. His writing was
known for its powerful imagery, rhythmic language, and social commentary.
Hughes used his words to address issues of racial inequality, social injustice,
and the complexities of identity.
The poem is a powerful expression that voices out the
hardships and struggles faced by the African Americans. The speaker has been
through a lot of hardships and struggles. He mentions of being scared and
battered, with their hopes scattered by the wind. He feels like he has been
frozen by the snow and baked by the sun. Despite all this, he refuses to let it
bring him down. He does not care about what has happened to him because he is
still here, still laughing, still loving, still living. It’s a strong message
of resilience and determination.
In terms of literary devices, one can observe a few in these
lines. There’s repetition with the phrase “stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop
livin'” which emphasizes the speaker’s defiance and refusal to let their
hardships define them. There’s also alliteration with the repeated “s” sounds
in “scared and battered,” “snow has friz me,” and “sun has baked me,” which
adds a musical quality to the lines. Overall, these lines use vivid imagery and
strong emotions to convey the speaker’s resilience in the face of adversity.
Critically , the speaker uses metaphor to highlight the
different layer of oppressions faced in the society. Firstly, the speaker
expresses the interior trauma faced by many African Americans in the society
from a psychological scale. The mention of “scared and battered” is a metaphor
highlighting the mental state of many black communities in America who lives
with certain menaces and a danger. The word “battered” also throws light into
repeated violence and injustice against the African Americans in the community.
Secondly, the metaphor of oppression is evident in the use
of vivid imagery from the world of nature. The “wind” ,”snow” and “sun”
represents different forms of nature and the speaker uses it to express
different aspects of oppression. The metaphor for “wind” represents the
destruction of the dreams of black communities as their hopes are
disintegrated. The “snow” shrouds the inability to pursue the dreams due to the
existing social systems such as systemic racism and white supremacy. The “sun”
could suggest the colonial mentality of the whites oppressing the colonised
based on their skin colour and physical appearance in similitude to baking.
The poem is also a cultural representation of Harlem
Renaissance movement of 1920’s. It emphasised on the intellectual movement to
fight against social inequality, injustice and racial oppression in the society
faced by the African Americans. The poem uses the pronouns “I” , “My” , “me” ,
“I’m” which is a reflection of different voices coming from the Africans
Americans echoing and translating their oppressions through poem and a
creativity. The continuous use of different personal pronouns reflects the
state of different experiences of social inequality, racial oppression and
violence faced by the African Americans in the society.
However, the poem also celebrates the theme of resilience
and determination sending a social message to their own communities. The
speaker states that “they” or the white community or any systemic oppressions
have been trying to diminish their happiness, joy and a state of living in this
world but they do not care about it at all. It shows that they are resilient
and determined to ward off the menaces thrown at them because they are “still
here” fighting for their just rights
