ENG 102- Blog Assignment #9

This course has helped me to change the way I read literature from beginning to the end of this course. Honestly, this course is one of the hardest courses that I have ever taken, but I think that I’m reading for different element maybe looking beyond the plot, for example, to look for characters or something else. Before I thought that I would not understand poems but after taking this class I have learned ‘close reading’ which helped me to understand the meaning of poems. In the future, I now expect that I will be able to read or watch movies differently because I will be able to connect every detail such as: characters, plot and setting. Also, I have learned about many beautiful short stories in literature such as; realistic, romance, fiction and sometimes we have seen some combinations of them. I always think that Shakespeare’s writing is very hard to understand due to the language but ‘The Tempest’ made the class easy end fun to read. Another think was helpful is assignments that we did on blogs. These blogs enhanced my horizon towards to reading and writing. Thus, all the assignments on the blogs and essays improved my writing and reading to understand poems, short stories .

ENG 102 -Blog Assignment # 8 -Responding to a Poem

The poem that I’m choosing is “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes.  I think that poetry is an imaginative understanding of experience spoken or written through meaning, sound and rhythmic language choices so as to bring to mind emotional response.Most poems have rhymes, metaphors and similes. Langston Hughes uses similes, daily language in his poems to reach his readers. Also, he uses simpler and conversational style to present his personal or general experiences to reach his audience like “The Weary Blues”. “The Weary Blues” describes an evening of listening to a blues musician in Harlem.  This poem gives readers an appreciation of the emotion conveyed by the blues musician in the poem.  “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes is a notable poem to illustrate how music can express his and the feelings of other African-Americans towards segregation. With simple language and rhymes that he uses I have noticed that how he perfectly presents African-Americans’ social and political problems in a society and I agree that poem may not have metaphors or similes or a high literary style, but it should still use language in a creative way. He does not use any high style writing, but he uses many rhymes. “ Ain’t got nobody but ma self. /And put ma troubles on the shelf” (Hughes 20-2).This kind of writing makes the poem easier to understand and fun.