POEM :

DEMOCRACYBY: KHAIRUL ANUAR BIN SAMSUDIN

NURUL NABIHAH BINTI MOHD NASIRPRIYAA A/P SUBRAMANIAM

BACKGROUND OF THE POET• James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1,

1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Hughes began writing poetry in Lincoln.

• His first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, (Knopf, 1926) was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926.

• First recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the "Harlem Renaissance" because of the number of emerging black writers.

• Died of complications from prostate cancer in May 22, 1967, in New York City. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and East 127th Street has been renamed “Langston Hughes Place.”

# Both of Hughes' paternal great-grandmothers were African-American both of his paternal great-grandfathers were white slave owners of Kentucky.#On his maternal grandmother's side, there was French and Indian blood. One of the first women to attend Oberlin College, she first married Lewis Sheridan Leary, also of mixed race. Lewis past away in 1859.# In 1869 the widow Mary Patterson Leary married again, into the elite, politically active Langston family. Her second husband was Charles Henry Langston, of African-American, Native American, and Euro-American ancestry.# Charles and Mary's daughter Caroline was the mother of Langston Hughes.#Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri.# He is the second child of school teacher Carrie (Caroline) Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes.

#After the separation of his parents, while his mother traveled seeking employment, young Langston Hughes was raised mainly by his maternal grandmother, Mary Patterson Langston# Through the black American oral tradition and drawing from the activist experiences of her generation, Mary Langston instilled in her grandson a lasting sense of racial pride.# After the death of his grandmother, he went to live with family friends, James and Mary Reed, for two years. In his 1940 autobiography The Big Sea he wrote: "I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother. Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books.# Later, Hughes lived again with his mother Carrie in Lincoln, Illinois. She had remarried when he was still an adolescent.While in grammar school in Lincoln, Hughes was elected class poet. During high school in Cleveland, he wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook, and began to write his first short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays.

Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right As the other fellow has To stand On my two feet And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I'm dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.

Freedom Is a strong seed Planted BY LANGSTON HUGHESIn a great need.

I live here, too. I want freedom Just as you.

It is no surprise that democracy in the United States was nonexistent in the early 1900s and throughout the Jim Crow era, for blacks had no rights. Democracy back then was laughable and a joke - and outright biased. Government rule by the people pertained to whites exclusively, excluding all African Americans.

FIRST STANZAThe poet gets right to the point in the first stanza. Democracy, referred to here in the most general sense of the word, isn't coming to anybody through compromise and fear. Forget about today, this year, or any year even. Democracy isn't happening if folks are constantly bargaining with one another or feeling fearful about what's to come.

The poet isn't limiting himself to a particular time or setting since he includes "today, this year/ Nor ever." Democracy, no matter what time it is or where we are, won't come "through compromise and fear." Even though the speaker is keeping things kind of generalized, he does so in order to keep the message here applicable to all folks.

SECOND STANZA The "I" in line 5 tells us this poem is coming to us from a first-person point of view, We (hopefully) all have two feet and the right to own land if we can afford it.So although it's in first-person, the poem is also generalized enough for all people to identify with, since the poet still hasn't zeroed in on a particular time or place.

THIRD STANZA

-He's tired of hearing folks say, "let things take their course." When we hear that common idiom, we may think of submitting to the way things are, no matter how wrong those circumstances may be. And he is just plain tired of folks allowing bad habits to persist. We're either free or… we're not. And folks will either fight for freedom or say, "let things take their course." At this point, he seems to be in the former camp of fighting for, or at least voicing the necessity for, freedom and democracy. Get up, stand up. All people need bread to eat, and all people need freedom. So, our focus should be on getting these things today, quick-fast in a hurry, not tomorrow

FOURTH STANZAWe might think of beginnings, strong beginnings, and the hope that the seed will flourish into something much bigger and more fruitful than its initial form. Maybe there's a potential for an even greater "strength" to come in that tiny little seed.And if we think of freedom, the same kinds of ideas may come to mind. Freedom, as an ideal, provides the opportunity for bigger and better things beyond itself, perhaps in the sense of progress for an entire community or nation.Since freedom is also planted here "in a great need," we also understand that freedom is not optional. It's necessary—just like the bread we saw earlier. So the speaker is really stressing the idea of freedom being a fundamentally necessary part of human life and, more specifically, democracy.

The last stanza comes to us just as plainly and casually as the rest of the poem.. He lives here so he ought to be entitled to freedom just like any other citizen. Seems fair to us.Notice that, even by the end of the poem, we still don't have any specifics as to where we are or what time it is. So from beginning to end, the speaker's message is intended for all people—not just New Yorkers or Californians.We also feel in this last stanza more of the speaker's universal desire for freedom. The "you" in line 21 can be anyone and freedom likewise should be for everyone as well.By the end we feel the speaker's sense of reason and demand for freedom

GENERAL MEANING• The story discusses the erroneous methods that were being

used to achieve freedom and a democracy. He criticizes the fear and tactics used to attain democracy by stating, “Democracy will not come..through compromise and fear”. Blacks have had to sacrifice themselves in order to build the United States through the travesty of slavery. Still, as they built the United States into a powerful nation they did not gain any freedom and rights. The speaker also “tire of hearing people say, “Let things take their course..Tomorrow is another day”” Essentially, he is condemning those who take a passive approach towards equality and freedom. The speaker obviously does not enjoy the same freedom as others saying: “I want freedom. Just as you. ”

THEME

• A freedom is everybody’s right-We should always fight for our right in this

world so that we can get a chance to voice out our opinion on some situation but we also

should remember that there is a limit in the way we give out our opinion.

SYMBOL• Lines 1-4: Democracy, no matter where it is, won't come through

bargaining with one another or through fear. It takes guts to get and it takes a lot of heart to keep it alive.

• Lines 13-14: Democracy, just like "tomorrow's bread," isn't any good to anyone if we're dead. So enough talk about "tomorrow." Get the show on the road, because democracy and freedom need to be realized today.

DEMOCRACY

• Lines 1-4: Maybe democracy will come this year, maybe not. But while we're busy talking about the future, we fail to recognize that today is what really matters. And if we keep compromising by saying "tomorrow," we're not helping matters much.

• Line 14: We just can't get over the awesome metaphor we get in "tomorrow's bread." Bringing home the bacon (or bread) doesn't usually apply for tomorrow. We need to eat (and live freely) today.

TOMORROW

• Lines 13-14: Who needs freedom? Who needs freedom after you're dead? Yes, those famous lines really stick with us and give us a little chuckle too. And that's a perfect combination to capture just how urgently the speaker needs freedom now.

• Lines 19-21: The speaker lives here just like you do. And if you're free, then he ought to be too. Seems reasonable enough, right?

FREEDOM

POETIC DEVICESLiteral analysis• Personification : ‘Democracy will not come….’• Metaphor : ‘I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread’ ‘ freedom is a strong seed’ ‘Planted in a great need’Tone/mood • Frustrated mood and the feel of dissatisfaction.Technical analysis of images • Images of uncertainty ‘tomorrow is another day’ : The persona feels that everyone have the right to voice

out things in one’s life and they can do that by getting the democracy. The persona feels that he or she does not want to get the right after the death of his or hers but they want to fight for the democracy when they are still alive.

ISSUE• The Conflicts Between Classes, Race, and Different Age Groups

other African Americans that if they want to have equal rights they cannot comprise what they believe, nor should they fear standing up for themselves. Hughes was an educated man, but he was considered to be lower class at the time because of his race. He was expressing that he did not consider himself to be inferior to the white majority, because he had the strength "to stand on his own two feet." He was expressing that he deserved to have the right to "own the land", and be an equal member of society. He knew that no change would come from turning the other cheek. He was expressing that the freedom to be granted for future generations wasn’t going to help him at all; he wanted equality now. "Freedom is a strong seed, Planted in a great need" is simply informing readers that freedom is a right for everyone in the United States. Hughes was an American, and deserved to have the same rights as white people.

MORAL VALUES

• One should fight for our freedom or rights.

• We should treat people equally

THE END

THANK YOU