Key poetic devices used in “My People”

In Langston Hughes’ poem “My People” key poetic devices such as repetition, metaphor and imagery are used to convey that black people are beautiful like nature and they should be thought of in the same way as everyone else. These techniques help convey the issues faced by black people and how they are beautiful just like everyone else. The technique of imagery in the poem helps create ideas and lets people visualise what Langston is trying to say in the poem. This technique is very effective to help convey the point Langston is trying to make. “The stars are beautiful” shows imagery because the reader thinks of stars in the night sky. By doing this the poem can show that black people are beautiful just like everyone else. The technique of repetition is used in the poem to help emphasise the theme of the poem. By doing this the poem can presents the theme of the poem. “Beautiful” is repeated constantly throughout the poem emphasising how black people are beautiful just like nature and everyone else. Metaphor is a technique used in the poem because the reader can make a comparison on how beautiful black people really are with objects such as nature. By doing this the poem becomes more relevant to the reader because they can compare well known things such as stars to the ideas in the poem. “The stars are beautiful, So are the eyes of my people” lets the reader compare black people to beautiful things such as stars.Compared to Joseph Seamon Cotter Jr poem “Is It Because I Am Black?” the theme of the poem is different, however, both poems come from black American writers from the same time when black people were still oppressed. Both poems protest about their people yet Cotter’s poem talks more about how badly he and his people are treated and Langston’s poem talks more in a positive way of things. The techniques in the poem help create the theme of the poem and how black people are beautiful like nature and they should be thought of in the same way as everyone else.

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