Poetry Analysis: "As I grew older"

Poetry Analysis: “As I Grew Older” by Langston Hughes





It was a long, long time ago; when not everyone was free be who they were, do as they please all because of the color of their skin.

Langston Huges poem “As I Grew Older,” in a literal sense means is, because he is black. He dreams of so much; however, it keeps knocking him down, or as he says, “And then the wall rose, rose slowly.”

When he was a young black child, he was unaware the world could be so cruel, as he writes about the “wall” and how it “rose to the sky;” it gets between him and his dreams; the wall represents the world. “I lie down in my shadow,” refers to him accepting defeat, accepting that he cannot win this battle. He can “no longer see the light of his dream, above him, all he can see is the thick wall and the shadow.”

The dreams become a distant, faded memory that he almost forgets about, until he remembers as he grows older, and the memory of his dreams come back to the front of his mind. He tries and tries to go forth with his dreams, but to no avail he encounters obstacle after obstacle along his way prejudice and, discrimination, to name a couple.

Towards the end of the poem and throughout the poem, he refers to his “black hands,” and “breaking through the wall;” “light and darkness,” represents him pushing through, with his “dark hands,” all the obstacles, no matter how high the wall is or, how dark it may get, he is going to smash down the wall and shatter the darkness. To let the light of the sun, shine and let his dreams come true.

Langston Huges brings to life his struggles of being black in America and having dreams, then not believing in them any longer for a period of time, then resurfacing once again. This is a helpful poem for anyone who is struggling with life or accomplishing his or her dreams. It makes us remember that life is full of craziness and, chaos; there will be mountains to climb, and some will appear too high to make it to the top.

In the literal sense, it is quite unbearable to think that the obstacles that occurred in Langston Hughes path to success were because of the color of his skin. The world has come a long way since Langston Hughes was a boy; however, there is still more to accomplish for everyone to be equal as the constitution states.