Langston Hughes’s “As I Grew Older” reflects the regressive graph of the poet’s dreams as he grew older. The graph appeared to be inversely proportional to the progression of time.
Langston Hughes’s “As I Grew Older” represents not only his growth in stature, but the obstacles to his growth as an individual, and a member of society. The purpose of Life for a person is defined by his dream. He states that “It was a long time ago” that his dream existed. The lines that begin like a fairy tale point to a fairy tale existence–the aspiration of a black in a white-dominated society. The dream at the moment was right in front of him, an ‘in the face aspect’. It is likened to the sun .The comparison is apt, as the Sun stands for sunshine, brightness, the warmth of life and rays of hope. The light of the Sun also seemed to show him the way.
Subsequently, the poet brings in the metaphor of the Wall that grew when he was supposed to grown in its place. The wall referred to here is the wall of Apartheid, the invisible but sophisticated barrier. The wall is emblematic of boundaries,and barriers, and marginalization and segregation, as in Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall’. While people have introduced the wall,as a symbol of civilization; according to Frost it was an eloquent symbol for regression. The poet Langston Hughes asserts how the wall rose slowly here, he reiterates the word ‘slowly’ to stress its devious method of segregation. It eventually separates Langston Hughes from his dream permanently. When it should have been the dream touching the horizon, Hughes portrays the Wall as touching the sky.’
It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun–
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky–
It now throws a shadow. The shadow, is true to the speaker as it is his own and does not part with him. It remains with him even in times of distress. The symbolism of the shadow indicates a pall of gloom. As the speaker asserts:
“I lie down in the shadow,” the shadow comes across as a protective refuge for him. The light of his dream no longer inspires him. What remains is only the thick impenetrable wall and the shadow of darkness. The poet utilizes ‘hands; to refer to his reach and also to his whole body. Therefore the figure of speech employed is metonymy. He wants to break through this wall; he aims to break down this darkness of irrational behaviour based on colour. This is the why the word ‘black’ has been repeated numerous times.
He utilizes images of darkness like shadow, Night. Hughes strongly urges to break this wall as easily as a fragile piece of glassware. This inclination is echoed in the words ‘shatter’, ’smash’, ’break’. He aspires to break it like pieces of mirror that would reflect “Into a thousand lights of sun.” These broken pieces of mirror function as the objective correlative of his broken dreams.
The wall.
Shadow
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!
©Rukhaya MK 2011
The content is the copyright of Rukhaya MK. Any line reproduced from the article has to be appropriately documented by the reader. ©Rukhaya MK. All rights reserved.
January 20, 2019 at 9:47 am
Excellent.waiting for more.