Formal Paragraph - Still Here

[iain melville]

Write a formal paragraph based on a relevant literary feature of your
choice. Post a soft copy here and prepare a hard copy for feedback in
class. Good Luck!

[wong alex]

By reading the line “snow has friz me”, readers can know that the
speaker is a person who received inadequate education because there is
no such word as “friz”. Referring to the background of Langston
Hughes, he lived under the period where Racism was an ethical issue in
the US. The blacks at that time were regarded as the minority and they
are usually treated as slaves. So, the whites believe that blacks did
not need to receive too much education. Hence, this implies that the
speaker of this poem is an African American.

At the beginning of this poem, the particular uses of “scarred and
battered” are crucial in reflecting the lives of the blacks. “Scarred”
refers to the mark left by a healed wound and “battered” refers to
beat hardly. This symbolizes that the blacks are not treated as human;
this causes both mental and psychological scars on the black which
cannot be cured. Besides, Hughes also uses a number of elemental
imagery. “Wind” is used to signify the destroy and elimination on the
hope of the blacks where they want to be treated equally. Moreover,
“snow” and “sun” are connected to each other. “Snow” symbolizes the
whites and “sun” symbolizes power.
In other words, the whites have strong power over the blacks and the
whites are also regarded as the majority during that period. Finally
“stop laughin’” means no mercy in life and “stop livin’” means death.
Hence, this shows that the blacks are bullied and tortured by the
whites. The blacks also have no power to rebel against the white.
Therefore, through the use of diction and elemental imagery, it brings
out the theme of race discrimination.

Finally, in the last two lines of this poem

“But I don’t care! I’m still here!”

The use of exclamation marks shows the determination and the endurance
of the black. Although their life is harsh, they will not give up. The
speaker then concludse that “I’m still here” which shows that the
souls of the blacks will never dies.

[Jeffrey Au]

RESPONSE ON LANGSTON HUGHES’ “STILL HERE” (P. 123)

This poem reflects the continuous racism of the unfair treatments from
the whites toward the blacks during the nineteenth and twentieth
century. Langston chooses his diction relating to fights and
struggles, such as ‘scarred’ and ‘battered’, to emphasize the pain and
unfairness the blacks and Afro-Americans have been through. The
atmosphere is set into a pitiful remembrance of the continuous bullies
and insults to the blacks by the use of powerful diction and emotions
spread by the use of first-person narration at the very first line.
Langston also stresses his emphasis on the continuous, never stopped
racism (at the time which this poem is written) at the Afro-Americans
by the use of consonance, alliteration and sibilance. The repeated use
of the letters ‘attered’ from ‘battered’ and ‘scattered’ creates a
repeated feeling towards the reader. This implies that a lot of Afro-
Americans have been hampered by the whites restlessly. Then, on line
6, Langston uses alliteration on l, “Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop
livin’” to further enhance this sense of repetition. This time
Langston expresses his pressure toward the white’s action of literally
making them stop having any fun, joy, hope, and life. The repetition
of stop also creates sibilance, which is mainly used to describe harsh
actions.
Langston also uses a number of elemental imagery: ‘the wind’, ‘snow’
and ‘sun’. These imageries, alongside with the chaotic, fighting
diction he uses, alludes to the long-term struggle against the
‘nature’ – which may imply that discriminating against the blacks is
natural; or that they are fighting against the common human nature in
the American society.
No matter how harsh they have received their treatments, Langston
makes a clear and definitive declaration at the very start (title) and
end of the poem that “I’m still here”. This is basically the main
point of the poem, that the blacks can concur all the pains and
discrimination from the whites, and can and will continue to survive
and live through their culture. From this strong declaration, we as
readers can feel that Langston, alongside with his fellow Afro-
Americans, are very proud of their race and culture.

[Tsz Yin Chong]

In “Still Here” by Langston Hughes, the protagonist of the poem, a black man in the USA, is telling, “You might well knock me down, but you can never keep me down.” The poem was written when inequality and racism took place in the United States of America against African-Americans before the civil right movement began in the early 1960s. The use of assonance in the first two line in “battered” and “shattered” emphasizes the cruelty of the white people and conveys hoe they make his life seems hopeless as the “wind done scattered” his dreams. The word “friz” in line 3, “’em” in line 4 and laughin’”, “lovin’” and “livin’” in line 6 all don’t exist, hence indicate that the protagonist is not well educated. This reflects the inequality and injustice against black people, as they were not provided with learning opportunity. He mentions that how people, very likely the racist whites, try to interfere with his life by stopping him from “laughin’”, “lovin’” and “livin’”. This use of consonance again emphasizes his frustration with overcoming the ceaseless obstacles. “But I don’t (he doesn’t) care!/I’m (he’s) still here!” He will always stand up again and he tries to tell us that he is indomitable.

2010/9/28 iain melville <elli...@gmail.com>

[Jason Kwan]

Langston Hughes suggests the issue of racial discrimination and the
treatment of inequality between the Whites and the Afro-American in
the poem. The use of diction plays an important role to enlarge the
suffering of the blacks. Hughes employs words like, “scarred”,
“battered”, “friz” and “baked” to emphasize such miseries of the black
people in the nineteen century of America. Not only do such imageries
denote to physical injuries on human, they also connote the mental
abused on the Afro-American. Literary feature of juxtaposition, “friz”
and “baked” is used to show the stark contrast between the two races –
whites and the blacks. As reflected in the first line, “I’ve been
scarred and battered”, Hughes suggests that the Afro-American suffer
tremendously on mental and physical humiliation and toil. All the
syllables are stressed and spondee is employed to purport Hughes’s
determination on redressing an injustice for the Afro-American.
Besides, colloquialism of words is used throughout the poem. Despite
the length of the poem, Hughes has intentionally chosen words like,
“friz me”, “between ‘em”, “laughin’”, “lovin’” and “livin’” to depict
the ever inferior educational background of the narrator, nonetheless
treated unfairly, are succumbed to injustice, perhaps only of an Afro-
American.

[Ho Lok Sze]

Still here, by Langston Hughes, is a declaration which tries to get
peoples’ attention and concern about the ‘black’ people. By using
first person narration, the poet, who is a ‘black’ expressed the
message directly, this not only helps convincing other but also shares
his personal thought to readers. In the poem, although the setting is
not specified, it suggests it is happened at outdoor. By using
elemental imagery such as ‘sun’, ‘snow’ and ‘wind’, this alludes that
the blacks need to fight against the natural as they spend most of the
time working outdoor for the whites. With elemental imagery, the poet
also reveals that lives of the blacks are very harsh as they are
‘friz’ and ‘baked’ by the sun and snow. With the change in structure
at line 4 and 5 and the repetition of ‘stop’ at line 6, this helps
emphasizing and getting attention of readers since the poet want to
notify all people in the world that ‘But I don’t care!’ and ‘I’m still
here!’ which is the most important message. In addition use of
exclamation mark, the poet delivers the last message which is no
matter what happen and where in the world, the African will still
around.

[Christopher Chow]

Hughes asserts "I'm still here" on behalf of his race in "Still Here"
and attempts to unify and elicit the Afro-Ameircans discerning their
human rights should be respected. Through the use of elemental
imagery, it illustrates the hardship of which the blacks are going
through and the contentious relationship with the whites. The "Sun"
and the "Snow" advise the slavery working environment as extremes. It
also suggests that the collective of blacks are fighting against the
nature in which it is impossible to change the nature and the elements
on the earth. Metaphorically, it is regarded as fighting against the
whites, likewise, fighting against the nature.

[amy keung]

The sound, tone, and rhythm of the poem “Still Here” conveys Hughes’
adamance in advocating black pride and breaking the cycle of continued
oppression of his race. The beginning of the poem is a rhyming couplet
that describes how the speaker has been “battered” until his hopes
“scattered.” Scansion reveals that these two lines are mainly composed
of trochees, which contribute to a steady rhythm. The regular pace and
similar-sounding words create the impression that it is entirely
ordinary for the speaker to encounter such adversities. Thus, the
reader infers that in nineteenth century America, maltreatment of Afro-
Americans is part of the norm. Conversely, while phrases “baked me”
and “make me” end lines three and five respectively, they do not truly
rhyme as the former contains the consonant “d” after “-ake.” Moreover,
line four is placed between what could have been a rhyming couplet
that is similar to the first two lines. The altered rhyme scheme of
the poem implies that new elements are introduced to established
occurrences. These subtle adjustments to the poem’s sound and
structure suggest that change is imminent; specifically, the
association of normalcy with the discrimination against blacks will be
abolished. Before declaring his revolutionary stance, however, the
speaker reinforces the magnitude of the pressures against him. Line
six comprises three virtually identical antibacchii which differ only
by the second syllable. Sound imagery is thus created of a horde of
chanting tyrants; the reader gleans how society is brainwashed by the
notion that Afro-Americans are inferior. Yet, the speaker’s will
remains unwaveringly strong, and delivers his message powerfully by
use of two molossi, the latter of which is italicized and further
stressed. This ardent conclusion is a strong contrast against the
steady rhythm in the previous lines, and etches itself into the
reader’s mind. The majority of “Still Here” describes injustice
against blacks and how it is deemed typical by the people of
nineteenth century America; combined with an even pace and uniform
sound, the reader understands that these routines are difficult to
obliterate. Still, the speaker firmly asserts his nonconformity with a
dramatic shift in tone. Through the poem, Hughes gently stirs the
reader’s emotions until he emphatically calls for an awakening so that
the receiver of “Still Here” recognizes black pride, and contributes
to pulverizing the seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent phenomenon of
racism.

[gin gin]

The purpose of Langton Hughes in writting the poem "still here" is to
let the audience know how Afro-American being treats by the American
as a slave in his time with the use of natural imagery to symbolize
that the Afro-American is working in an outdoor field as a slave. The
speaker mentioned “about “wind”, “snow has friz me” and “sun has baked
me” are all the elemental imagery which represents the nature or some
outdoor activity, so the speaker has present an image to the audience
that the American treats the Afro-American as a slave where they just
work outside for the American to earn money.

[gin gin]

Ignore the previous post

The purpose of Langton Hughes in writing the poem "still here" is to

let the audience know how Afro-American being treats by the American

as a slave in his life time with the use of natural imagery to

symbolize that the Afro-American is working in an outdoor field as a
slave. The speaker mentioned “about “wind”, “snow has friz me” and
“sun has baked me” are all the elemental imagery which represents the
nature or some outdoor activity, so the speaker has present an image
to the audience that the American treats the Afro-American as a slave
where they just work outside for the American to earn money.

On Sep 28, 3:26 pm, iain melville <elliv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[L Chan]

In Langston Hughes’ poem, ‘Still Here,’ he uses an affirmative and
proud tone to signify the fact that Afro American spirit never dies in
his heart and those who believe in their own race. The poem also acts
as a tool to unite all Afro Americans to be proud of their own race,
and to persuade other races that they are not inferior just because of
their skin color. The use of diction is this poem is very rich in
meaning and reveals racial discrimination towards the black people and
their background, catching the readers’ attention. The word “scarred”
in this poem not only shows the lack of education of the poet himself,
but it consists of two meanings at the same time. On one hand, the
word “scarred” could mean a unhealed mark wound on skin, symbolizing
the poor treatment he received as a slave under the white people and
the mental wounds caused by insults by them. However, it could also
mean the word “scared” where it is misspelled in the poem,
illustrating the fact that how Afro Americans has been living under
fear, because of the white people’s racial discrimination. After that,
elemental imagery “Snow” and “Sun” is used as a metaphorical device to
describe the white people’s race and power respectively. Langston
Hughes’ use of the misspelled word “friz” as to the correct word
“freeze” once again reinforce the poor education he received, which
also informs the readers about the lack of learning opportunity black
people had due to racism. At the end of the poem, Langston Hughes
expresses how the white people has tried to stop them from eliminating
their emotions and delight such as laughing, loving and even living.
The repetitive use of informal words like “laughin’,” “lovin’” and
“livin’” here not only reflects the inferior education that black
people received, but it also creates emphasis on their discontent on
how the white people treats them. The use of metaphorical diction in
this poem act as a device to demonstrate Langston Hughes determination
in uniting all Afro Americans and informing others of their pride for
the their own race and the problem of racial discrimination.

[Ingrid Chung]

As an Afro American, Langston Hughes expresses his affirmation on his
existence through ‘Still here’. In the use of diction and tone and
imagery, he highlights his fearless in racism, together with his
strength and ability in opposing the discrimination. As ‘here’ is an
indefinite pronoun, which the setting is undefined, Langston chooses
the poem’s title as ‘Still here’ to represent his speech for not
merely himself but all his compatriots. It is obvious that Langston is
a Negro through observing his use of diction. 'Done', ''em’, 'make me'
and 'livin" are the instances of Negro’s terminology and the
misspelling of ‘friz’ can also adequately indicate Langston’s lack of
education. Furthermore, in line 6-8, the repetition and punctuation
Langston applies contribute in creating his tone. “Stop laughin’, stop
lovin’, stop livin’ - But I don’t care! I’m still here!” These
repetition and punctuation used demonstrate Langston’s tone of anger,
which apparently causes by his dissatisfaction in unfair treatment and
discrimination, and his eagerness to oppose the white people’s
isolation on him. With the provision of his background and his tone of
expression, this in fact strengthens his emphasis on his power to
inform the white people about his existence. Langston, on the other
hand, utilizes imagery to state his satisfaction on being a Negro.
“Snow has friz me, sun has baked me.” Langston employs this elemental
imagery to state that it is the nature which decides who he is; this
is his destiny he accepts, he will not alter anything but proud of
being a Negro. And wisely, he uses ‘scarred’, ‘battered’ and
‘scattered’ to create the imagery of violence. The purpose of this is
to illustrate the violent treatments that he receives by the white
people, which can refer to his highlights on his ability in declaring
his existence.

[Tsai.]

Still Here is an exhibition of Afro-American’s hardships that Langston
Hughes sees in his ancestry. The elemental imagery in the poem is a
thematic implication on multiple levels: literally, the contrasting
meteorological phenomenon suggests the extreme conditions of which the
discriminated “black” people were made to work under, which have them
made them “scarred and battered”. In addition, the natural references
could be interpreted as a metaphor for the Americans, for their
autocratic discrimination against the Afro-Americans was seen as if it
is a natural thing to do.

[lorraine!]

‘Still Here’ by Langston Hughes captures the inequality treatment of
being a black in the America. The poem depicts the struggle of a man
during slavery. Even though they have gone through a lot, they won’t
trade their laughter, lovers and life. They are ‘still here’.

The black are ignored in the society, from the title ‘Still here’,
suggests a need of affirmation for their existence. Throughout the
poem, it is written in first person narration with an indirect
reference of ‘I’, suggests that the poet is speaking on behalf of all
the blacks. Diction such as ‘scared’ and battered’ in the beginning
of the poem reflects the feeling of being a black. As the poem
progresses, repetition and alliteration are employed in line 6 to
express the anger and inequality of being an African American.
Besides that, there are elemental imagery presents in the poem such as
‘sun’, ‘wind’, ‘snow’. In line 2 and 3, ‘My hopes the wind done
scattered’ and ‘snow has firz me, sun has baked me’, suggests there
are different forces in the society that make them to give up their
dreams and dignity. In line 7, ‘But I don’t care!’, reflect the
poet’s pride of being an black. Yet there are different forces that
made them to give up, however they are proud of their identity. They
are proud to tell people of their existence.

[kwok lun Chow]

“Still here” written by Langston Hughes, is a poem that contains his
pride towards his people, his feelings was expressed thought his word
choice. “Scarred”, “battered”, “scattered” are dictions that describe
the tortured he and him people have been thought during the day when
the white people rule. This also shows the degree of hardness they
have been thought; scansion reveals that the words are examples of
spondee, which creates the heavily stressed tone that readers can thus
empathize with the emotions that Langston Hughes and his kinds share.
Moreover, words that represent nature “snow”, “wind”, “sun” suggests
that the setting of this poem is outdoors under sun and wind.
Protagonist deals with natural a lot and suffers from these natural
tutoring when they are forced to work mostly outdoor. In line 6, the
writer uses repetitions of the word “stop” and “in’” this one the one
hand allow readers to feel the continuous expression of the writer;
one the other hand, crafts a ascending tone to the sentence. As
scansion discovers that this sentence is made out of a sequence of one
unstressed syllable followed by two stressed syllables that suggests
that the importance of the events are increasing. “ laughin’ , lovin’
and livin’” shows that the stop living is the worst thing that could
happened to them. Right after this sentence, we can see “ But I don’t
care I’m still here!” This is the part which the writer express his
full emotion toward the readers; because he declares that he has
survive the worst and is still here even after being tutored nearly to
death. This is why he has so much pride in his people and himself.

On Sep 28, 3:26 pm, iain melville <elliv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[rachelleu...@yahoo.com.hk]

“Still here” by Langtson Hughes is a poem that reflects the struggle
and challenges that an Africa-American confronts in that period of
time. On the title of the poem, the use of pronoun “here” suggests
that the speaker exists in everywhere and anywhere. This reveals the
speaker’s permanent spirit and he has a strong determination to fight
for his lives, which the speaker’s toughness and attitude also suggest
that the speaker possibly is a man. At the first line of the poem, the
poet uses first person “I” to explain the struggle that the speaker
has been through, it increases speaker’s reliability as it leads the
readers to assume that is a true experience from the speaker. Later on
in line 1, the use of ‘scarred’ and ‘battered’ highlights that the
speaker experiences an unpleasant event that creates a physically
damage to him. On the second line, the speaker describes his hopes are
destroyed by the wind: “My hopes the wind done scattered”- line 2, it
develops the sense of despair. Besides the use of elemental imagery on
line 2-3, such as, wind, snow and sun, allows the readers to know that
the speaker is a person who often stays on the outdoor as it
repeatedly mentions about the nature, Furthermore, on line 3 and 6,
the function of ‘em’ ’; and the ‘in’ ’ illustrates the speaker is
possibly belongs to the African culture as the use of diction displays
the sense of their culture. As well as, it also tells the speaker’s
background to the readers that the speaker is not well-educated and
not privileged, which implies the speaker’s identity to the readers.
Hence, this poem allows the speaker to shows his affirmation, which he
is not afraid to reveals his identity. Symbolically, on line 3 ‘Snow
has friz me, sun has baked me’, as snow is in white colour is it a
reference to the whites, and the sun is symbolizing the power and
authority that the whites posses at that period of time, yet in line 7
and 8, the speaker declares that “But I don’t care!”, “I’m still
here!” the use of ‘!’ and the diction, such as, don’t care that have
reveal his determination to fight for his lives, which the poet
compares fighting against the whites is similar to fighting against
the nature.

[Michael]

Still Here by Langston Hughes is a short poem centered around the
humiliation and tortured experienced by the African Americans in the
1950’s to 60’s. Through the frequent use of natural imagery of the
‘scattering of the wind’, ‘friz in the snow’ and the ‘baking of the
sun’, the disgrace experienced by the African Americans can be seen as
extremely powerful, just like the power of nature. This message is
directly delivered to the readers. The depressed and pressured emotion
of African Americans is also expressed towards readers through the
declaratory tone and the use of diction, that the narrator ‘doesn’t
care’, and announces that its ‘still here’. This is also significant
on the African Americans determination to seek for equality with the
Whites in America.

[iain melville]

Very nice indeed Amy... this piece of writing is, analytically, much tighter than some of your other responses - definitely a '7' quality piece of work. I'm proud! Keep it up!

[Norym]

In the poem “Still Here” by Langston Hughes, protagonist describes the
detrimental treatment that African American is acquiring in the
society during the nineteenth and twentieth century through applying
different scenery imagery in the poem. In the first line, “I been
scared and battered”, it shows the protagonist has been suffering from
affront and has not be treated decently, possibly refers to slavery in
this situation. In line three, “Snow has firz me” and line 4, “Sun has
baked me”, show the protagonist and his slave fellows are continually
be enduring from different season of the year, this act as a metaphor
that matures the state of mind of black American, in a sense of they
are not even getting protection or bless from God, the society makes
them more despair. Both quotes develop the impression of how African
are racially discriminated in the American society in either mentally
or physically to the readers. Aside, it also helps processing the
vigorous willpower for the third stanza on how protagonist highlight
they are “Still here”.

After readers receive the point of view of the life style of black
American by the state of mind of protagonist, theme of faith is
handily illustrated in the last line, “I’m still here!” the
exclamation mark helps bearing the enthusiasm tone in order to portray
the soul of them are undefeatable and vigorous; they will insist the
tough condition and their desire for change will not end. “I’m still
here”, the quote shows they are still subsisting after all episodes,
and their faith for equality keeps motivating their existence.