Comparison and Contrast A Poem for My Librarian Mrs Long

POETRY

Poetry: Compare and Contrast

The poetry “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long” written by Nikki Giovanni and “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes have been composed by African-American poets who have been victims of racial discrimination since childhood. Their poems depict the same period, 1950-51 of their early days. Where one poem narrates a thankful letter to the librarian who helped the poet explore the world of books, especially those that were not available in the Black library and had to access from the White library, and there is another poem that cites the experience of a Black college student who has to write a page about himself, which he believed would be full of racism, complexities of identity and social belonging. Hence, the thesis could be:

“African American poets showed a great representation of racial discrimination they faced being a Black minority in their literary works.”

The poem “Theme for English B” involves racial segregation, identity, and subtle hints of the poet’s age. In contrast, the theme for the other poem, “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long,” is childhood, pleasure, books, and thankfulness to the librarian. Moreover, alliteration has been used repeatedly in “Theme for English B” as consonant sounds of ‘h’ has been utilized with words like hear, Harlem, and hill. Similarly, alliteration has been used in the other poem with consonant sounds of words books, back, and brought. The same literary devices have been used in both poems.

In both poems, imagery has been strongly used, such as “Theme for English B,” which uses five senses in scene-setting, sitting down, writing page and up in the room, etc. In the same way, “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long” uses the citing of an image of the KJFG coffee sign in her childhood home of her grandparents where she used to live, the routine at the house with the application of natural speech in the form of storytelling. Again senses have been used in stanzas like ‘sat on the front porch,’ ‘watching,’ ‘discussing,’ etc. Imagery is a substantial part of these poems.

Anaphora has been used in “Theme for English B,” using repetitive words or phrases, like “part of you.” In the other poem, this repetition of words could be seen in the form of epistrophe, where at the end of each line, a single word is used to make rhyming effects, for instance, in stanza three, “…glad to see you/…to show you”. The word ‘you’ has been used for this purpose. It is seen that repetition has been an imperative part of poem design by both poets to emphasize certain words, phrases, and ideas.

In contrast, “Theme for English B” talks about a difference in identity for the Blacks and Whites while still keeping the similarities in person. However, the other poem, “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long,” does not do this; it shows thankfulness for the librarian and does not cite any differences as the poet was happy to see her and ready to take on new adventures in the books she gave her to read. “Theme for English B,” tells about differences between the student himself, Black, and his instructor, who is White. The poet writes, “I guess you learn from me- although, you’re older- and white- and somewhat more free.” The poet might not be really happy to see his instructor and his ways, while this is not the case in the poem about the librarian. Therefore, it is apparent that besides all the similarities of both of these writers, especially the representation of racial discrimination, which was explicit in both of the selected works, there has been a contrast in the exhibition of ideas to the person they are addressing.