Freedom - The Poem

The Poem: Freedom is written by the poet Langston Hughes. In this poem, he describes the time when the black Americans faced huge problems like Racism, segregation, and other aspects of their regular lives and how they fought for Freedom with a lot of struggle.

Let us look at more details about the poem and understand the theme of it from this topic.

Poem: The Freedom

Freedom 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

         In a great need.

         I live here, too.

         I want my freedom

         Just as you.  

- By Langston Hughes

About the Poem

In 1949, Langston Hughes published his most renowned and powerful poem, "Freedom." It was a time when Black Americans were still subjected to extreme racism, disenfranchisement, and segregation in many aspects of their lives. Hughes claims in the poem that neither compromise nor fear will get him closer to democracy. Not today, tomorrow, or any other time on this planet. He has the same right to work and own land as everyone else as an American citizen. Furthermore, he claims that he requires independence right now and that he wants to enjoy it now, rather than after his death.

As a result, Hughes is underlining the socioeconomic unfairness that existed in America at the time, where democracy was only for white people and the higher classes. He seeks freedom and wishes to enjoy it as much as the rest of us.

Freedom_ The Poem

About the Writer

Langston Hughes was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a period in which black intellectual, literary, and creative life flourished in a number of American cities, particularly Harlem, during the 1920s. Hughes was a well-known poet who also produced novels, short tales, essays, and plays. He wanted to convey the joys and difficulties of working-class black lives honestly, avoiding sentimental idealization as well as negative stereotypes.