THEME FOR ENGLISH B

Students read THEME FOR ENGLISH B by Langston Hughes http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html

Among the poems generated by Theme for English B is the following:

THEME FOR MULTI-CULTURAL LITERATURE CLASS by Shuen Wong

Sometimes I ask myself
"Who are you?
A name, a body, a spirit?"
Then I am confused.

I am nineteen years old, Chinese,
born in a small mountain village in South China.
My blissful childhood was there, close to nature.
I was only me, artless and carefree,
like an elf of the mountain.
In the morning, mist arose from the forest
like soft, light gauze.
In the evening, a cool mountain wind blew
through the forest
lulling me into sweet dreams.

Now here I am, a New Yorker,
in this motley land of skyscraping pressures.
I study hard in school to keep up
the Chinese reputation
of diligence and intelligence.
I am confined to school and home
like a caged nightingale.

The tall buildings sorrund me.
Subways and TV's make me dizzy.
I miss the old trees and the mountain,
the wind, the mist, and me.

Troubled Woman

Students read Troubled Woman by Langston Hughes.

Troubled Woman

She stands
In the quiet darkness
This troubled woman
Bowed by weariness and pain
Like an
Autumn flower
In the frozen rain,
Like a
Wind-blown autumn flower
That never lifts its head
Again.

After discussing Hughes's use of simile, students write their own poem modeled on Troubled Woman. Poems generated by this model include:

The Junkie by Steven Wong* *award-winning
He staggers
Into alleys of illusion
This wind-blown junkie
Angled by craggy veins
Like a
Helpless tumbleweed,
Like a
Crumpled, rain-streaked sheaf
Of yesterday's News.


The Old Man by Deborah Varner

He sits
In the stillness
Of his room
This old man
Crippled by
Age and loneliness
Like an
Aged tree
That can produce no fruit
Like the
Last living tree
In an eroding field.