An Analysis of "As I Grew Older"

 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!

 source, poemhunter.com

           As I Grew Older is a poem written by Langston Hughes. The poem looks at the idea of  achieving dreams, and how it's difficult to get them because he is black. In this poem, the blockade which obstructs him from achieving it is a wall. The dream seemed very possible at first, but then the wall "rose slowly" showing that it seemed less and less likely as he grew up. He was then in the shadows until he realized that he needed to destroy the wall to obtain his dream.

          This poem expresses the idea of opression and fighting against it, which is one of the HR themes. Back in the 1900s racism was prevelant in society and it prevented blacks from achieving their dreams, and letting them believe they didn't have a chance. The line, "I have almost forgotten my dream," shows this because the dream seemed so unattainable that it wasn't worth trying. The wall in the poem is a metaphor for the white community, limiting the movement of the black community. It "rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream" shows it could easily block the dreams of the blacks. He sees that he can no longer let the wall get in his way and breaks it with his "dark hands" and it helps him to "shatter this darkness," and finally get closer to reaching his dream, and having others reach their dreams, thus the "thousand lights of sun."

            This poem is very straight forward but there are different literary devices used, one being metaphors. The wall represents the opression of whites as mentioned earlier. The "thousand dreams of sun" shows that the sun embodies the brightly lit future when the "wall" is finally broken down, and the black people aren't in the shadows anymore. Hughes' choice of diction allows us to see the walls are "thick" and the hands are "dark" to give more clarity on the imagery of the subjects he is talking about. 

              I picked this poem because I enjoy reading poetry written by Hughes and this poem seemed relevant to the assignment. I do think this is one of his more easy to read poems because the meaning is very literal. I enjoy the simplicity of it as opposed to one of his other pieces, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, which is more heavy on metaphors.