Poem Summary | Afro- American Fragment | Langston Hughes

poem Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is one of the famous black poet originally from Africa but born and brought up in America. Most of his writings are based on his longing for going to the native country and protest against racial discrimination. He believes that black people are dominated and exploited in the white community especially in the United States. Many years ago they were brought from Africa and used as slaves. Many generations lived there but they are still languishing with racial discrimination. They aren’t considered as original citizens nor can they go back home. They are alienated, marginalized, fragmented and isolated from their own culture. Although they fought different wars in America, they aren’t provided equal rights. In this poem, Langston Hughes expressed his strong desire for going his home country.

There’s a long distance between the U.S. and Africa, not only geographically but also psychologically. Many of the black people do not know where their ancestors were born because they have spent many generations in America. They do not know the history of Africa. Whatever they know, they have got knowledge from history books written by white people. The white people distort the history and write in their own ways. Therefore, the black people are unknown about their own history. They listen to the songs but these songs are sung in un-negro tongue that is far from originality. The poet says that even many things have been forgotten, he knows the song but without understanding. The song is from Africa which describe unhappy desires of people. As he is far from the native land, he doesn’t know the geographical structure of the house. When he listens to the song, he can’t bring out images in his mind as a result he fails to understand.

This poem has been divided into two stanza. In the first stanza, he describes that he’s unknown about his own history. Then he doesn’t feel familiarity with the song because it is sung in un-negro tongue.

In the second stanza, he describes that they have last everything. The song has represented the sadness of people, their daily lives and many more but he doesn’t understands it as he has never been there. He has used a refrain in the poem.

A refrain is repetition of phrase or line or lines of poetry. This is used to add the intensity of feeling, or emphasize on the idea. In this poem, ‘so long so far away is Africa’ is repeated several times. This is an example of refrain.

 

 

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