The primary device that Langston Hughes employs in "I,
Too" is allusion: a reference to another work of
art.
Hughes's opening line, "I, too, sing America," is an
allusion to Walt Whitman's famous poem "I Hear America Singing." Whitman describes the
"varied carols" that he hears from American working people:
The
carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his
as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what
belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
singing on the steamboat
deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing
as
he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the
ploughboy's...
Langston
Hughes comments on Whitman's poem by saying that he--the "darker," black American--also
sings. He describes the mistreatment of African-Americans through the image of being
sent "to eat in the kitchen / When company comes." This, however, does not prevent the
African-American from eating well and growing strong. His eventual strength is
represented by another image:
readability="8">
Tomorrow,
I'll be at the
table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to
me,
"Eat in the
kitchen,"
Then.
In
addition to allusion and imagery, Hughes also
uses a refrain; "I, too, sing America" is both the first and last
line of the poem.
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