Theme for English B

The speaker defines himself as what his kinetic (touch), visual, and auditory senses perceive daily, which is Harlem. He writes, “I guess I’m what / I feel and see and hear” (Lines 17-18) to answer what is “true” (Line 16). Then, he focuses on his aural sense; “hear” is repeated four more times in Lines 18-20. The speaker hears “Harlem” (Line 18) and “New York” (Line 20), and Harlem hears him. The sense of sound is shared between the Black speaker and his predominately Black borough. Furthermore, Hughes and his speaker listen to music. This motif of sensory experience reflects the poem’s jazz inspiration. The word “motif” is also used in music theory terminology to describe a short, repeated musical fragment.

Throughout the poem, “page” functions to describe the speaker’s homework assignment, but it also symbolizes writing and education. When the word “page” appears in Lines 3, 15, and 41, it is part of the writing prompt and bookends the assignment itself. In other words, these three occurrences of the “page” are stated by the instructor and the student to describe the contents of Stanza 4.

When the word “page” appears within Stanza 4, as part of the assignment, it takes on symbolic meanings.