Introduction to Beauty in “Me and My Song”
Beauty even if beauty in “Me and My Song” is not limited to symmetry in physical features, or color, or in using makeup. It lies in the order of words, aesthetics, and musicality. And this proves true in the case of African Americans in the United States, for not only do they have their sense of beauty and their aesthetics, but also they have their music. The sense that they belong to African, a continent usually associated with the b–ck color, African Americans are sensitive about their cultural heritage and its beauty, for its richness lies deep “As the b–ck earth” (Line 17) and is gentle and kind (Line 2, 4). The humanity associated with the b–ck color represents the beauty of the African American culture as well as their origin. Langston Hughes shows beauty in “Me and My Song,” through metaphorical language, tries to prove that African American community and its homeland, the African continent, have their own life, music, and beauty.
Metaphor of Body and Beauty in “Me and My Song”
Whereas beauty in life is concerned, Hughes is clear in about beauty in “Me and My Song” that the metaphor of body going out of Africa is about the life of the people being smuggled or sold to other continents but they are Africans. The difference lies in the discrimination meted out to them after they are away from their homeland which is stated as a b–ck place having b–ck people. The argument of Hughes lies in the color b–ck that is of the African Americans. The equates this with the gentleness and kindness of night using different similes. But when he uses “Body” (Line 7), it becomes clear that he means a life that is also “Strong and b–ck” like iron despite having been discriminated against in the United States. This part of his argument, however, is missing as it is implicit rather than explicit. The similes equate their body and the continent, both, to humanity in general. The beauty of life lies in this color and the color represents the African Americans as well as their homeland, Africa. However, this color, its similarity to the African Americans and their life, shows that it has its own music and its own specificity about beauty. This music is in its song that is also about Africa and here lies beauty in “Me and My Song”.
Music and Beauty in “Me and My Song”
Where Hughes’s view about music in this poem is concerned, it has specific relevance with the African Americans as well as their homeland, Africa, showing its beauty in “Me and My Song”. First, he uses the word song in the thirteenth line of the poem followed by how it has gone out of African and what it is. He uses a meaningful metaphor “Deep and mellow song” (Line 15). By deep and mellow, he means that this song is incomprehensible to those who are not from African as it has come out of African (Line 14) and that it is mellow because it has no discrimination. The use of the word “mellow” (Line 14), points to the harshness and hardness that the African American community has faced in the United States or for that matter in any other country. The interesting point is that if thought on binary terms such as mellow and harshness, his pointer is not explicit; rather, he is very implicit that he only points out the beauty of his own song that its origin is Africa, it is their song and that it is very deep and mellow having no discrimination, prejudice or hatred against others. However, when he associates with his compatriots “From the dark lips” (Line 23), he personifies African saying that it comes out of the lips of Africa that are dark and that this is beautiful and rich like Africa (Line 26-27). This also points to African American people and his association with them when he says “My and My / Song” (Line 33-341). The difference lies in that the beauty of the Africans and Africa are different from that of the other people who discriminate against them on the basis of color, race, or physical features.
African American Beauty in “Me and My Song”
The beauty of the African Americans lies not only in their color but also in their song, including land, the reason behindbeauty in “Me and My Song”. Whereas their color is concerned, Hughes has used similes and then personified Africa to assert its beauty. The very first simile is about the color, b–ck, equated with the gentleness and kindness of the night (Lines 2-5). However, this equation is not soft, slender, or weak. It is rather strong for which he again uses the simile of iron (Lines 9-10). Although this shows that he is not equating beauty, the intervention of this strength of the African land and its people point to the very next feature of its beauty that is its “song” (Line 15) that he calls deep as well as soft (Line 15). He again refers to its richness (Line 16) as well as its strength (Line 19) and links this strength to the song. By this linkage, Hughes means that it is not that the African Americans are just gentle, kind, they are also strong and melodious, and herein lies the beauty of the people and the land. When the poem ends, Hughes also reaches the end of his argument of equating the people and land to the features and things to link the people with nature to point out the beauty “Me and my /Song” (Line 33-34) that ends the poem on the song. The start of the poem with the color ends on the word “Song” (Line 34), which points to the underlying current of beauty – that is in the association of things with nature.
Conclusion
Concluding the argument of linking the African Americans and their color, b–ck, with night and the earth shows that Langston Hughes wants to show that African Americans, have also the same human features as others have. His use of metaphors, similes, personifications and their repetition demonstrates his skill in writing short and cryptic sentences to point out that beauty lies in the association of human features with that of the nature and land from which they have originated. This shows his sense of beauty that is not only gentle and kind but also strong and that it is also melodious, having musical quality in the people and the land. He repeats almost the same metaphors and similes to stress upon this beauty and ends his poem on himself as well as the song that is his own song, of his people and his homeland. This is sans discrimination meted out to them.
Works Cited
Hughes, Langston. “Song.” Poets.org, https://poets.org/poem/song-16. Accessed September 17, 2022.
