Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Visual poem: As I grew older


As I grew older – By Langston Hughes


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—
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!

     This poem, is special, because of how simple, yet meaningful it is. Each word within it packs a punch, and uses good methods of getting the message it's trying to convey across. I can relate to this poem in certain ways, for example the title of the poem. The events in the poem, kind of tell the story of what happens as you grow older. This goes for me as well, despite that I am still young, I can already feel, what the poet calls "the wall of shadow". The poet also uses many good poetic pauses during the poem, and a good concept choice. Thos are some of the reasons that this particular poem caught my eye.

     I chose the picture, because of how literally it represents the poem. In the poem, it tells of a wall of shadow, blocking the narrator, or antagonist of this poem, from reaching his dreams. The picture shows this well, and the fact that it's made of bricks could convey that it isn't impossible to break through it. The wall continues, meaning there is no way around it, you have to break through it. The glowing white arrow is like the "light of sun" in the poem, breaking through the wall to attain the dream. Both represent the determination of the individual to reach his dream. Those are a few reasons that this picture was the one that stood out most to me.

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