Activity on the poem as i grew older

by hadeel hussain

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Activity on the poem as i grew older

  • Joined Feb 2017
  • Published Books 2

Name: Hadeel Hussain.

**Activity on the poem as i grew older**

By: Langston Hughes.

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**Table of contents** 

1)Thw poem*As i grew older*.

2)Activity*1*=letter to the poet.

3)Activity*2*=my dream.

 

 

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Thw poem*As i grew older*  

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!

*Langston Hughes*

 

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Activity*1*=letter to the poet 

The poem “As I Grew Older” is about the poet’s dream which he compares to the sun (the rising wall), and about the obstacles he tackled on his way to achieve it. Since the speaker is a dark African-American poet, we naturally think that the wall on his way is racism. However, the poet hasn’t mentioned that specifically and made the meaning of the wall, and the meaning of the poem unclear. In my opinion, “As I Grew Older” is a lot about racism, but not only.
In the poem the speaker mentions the fact that he is a black man (“I am black”, “My dark hands!”). The purpose of this repetition is to make the reader understand that in his life, the wall symbolizes racism. However, the poet hasn’t mentioned that specifically, on purpose to let the reader decide what the wall symbolizes for him. The poet wants us to understand that he had suffered from racism. In that way he also criticizes the society. He wants to say that although his skin color made it harder, he fought to make his dream come true, and if he fought against his tough racist wall, anyone can do this with less thick walls.

The message of the poem is: don’t be afraid to break the walls in your life, which prevent you from achieving your dream. Those walls exist in everyone’s life, which means there are many kinds of walls. Those walls, for example, can be discrimination against women or older people, preventing them from getting a job. Other walls might be an economic problem preventing children from having a successful future. I think that the toughest wall is unsupportive families, preventing their members from achieving their dreams.
In conclusion, in his poem Langston Hughes shows us that in his life he fought against racism, which constituted the obstacles in his life. However, he is still giving us the option to choose what the wall means for us: discrimination, economic difficulty or unsupportive family.

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Activity*2*=my dream 

I want to become a doctor. Being one is not only my dream but also my parent’s. I don’t wish to be the wealthiest and most highly graduated doctor the world’s ever seen but I want to be one who will serve her people and country in a true manner. Infact I don’t want to be a doctor for only patients but for the needy too. Although I know it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea to be faithful, humane and achieve great degrees at the same time but it is worth a try. I always want to feel the pride of being loyal to my patients and my duty.

Well it’s not always the same story from the beginning infact it was totally different. When I was a little girl, I didn’t actually wanted to be a doctor and never was worried about it. All I used to think was being a singer. Ofcourse that was a dream for me which I wished to come true. It included of me always singing silly songs and even recording and playing them back. But soon circumstances changed, I grew up and came to know my real destiny. Although I showed interest in studies from the beginning but singing was something which I used to do everytime, whether I be studying or playing. Many may call it as craziness but this was me as a kid. But as I mentioned earlier, I grew up to know where I belong and concentrated on it.

For now, for real I have a different dream and that is I want to become a doctor.

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