Essay on Langston Hughes 'Suicide's Note'

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Poetry has no true meaning. This means it is one of a kind to anyone. However, we can distinguish the difference between poetry and different literature. To me, poetry lets a person categorize their emotions and use literary devices to further explain their point of view to the reader. Poetry uses many different forms of multidimensional languages to connect to us significantly more easily. “Suicide’s Note” by Langston Hughes and “Richard Cory” by Edward Arlington Robinson utilizes symbolism, irony, and imagery to convey suicide but go about it with a one-of-a-kind approach that stands out.

The language of both poems has been influential and powerful but yet very different. The similarity between the two poems is that they both use low diction. Although “Suicide’s Note”, is a three-line poem, Hughes gets straight to the point while the poem builds up many snapshots in the reader’s mind. However, these three lines may inform an easy message to us, but it can also be greater thinking in the poem if we suppose that far. The first two lines, “The calm/Cool face of the river”(Hughes 695), offer the reader an intellectual photograph of a serene and tranquil place. The remaining line of the poem, “Asked me for a kiss”( Hughes 695), provides a romantic aspect to the poem. In “Richard Cory”, the imagery is even more effective because it is no longer extraordinary and tells a story. Line three says, “He was a gentleman from sole to crown”(Robinson 1034). Robinson does not mainly describe how Richard Cory was a polished man so it leaves it to the reader to develop their very own photo of him. Another example is line three in the second stanza. Robinson writes, “Nonetheless he fluttered pulses when he said”(Robinson 1034). In this stanza, the reader is not given any exact clue as to the way Richard Cory talked or even why people grew to become so frightened when they were around him. The reader is given a risk to create their very own interpretation of Richard Cory. Also, in Suicide’s Note, the poem uses alliteration for the duration of the poem. He makes use of the long c sound to get a feel of the rhythm of the poem. In Richard Cory, there’s no alliteration, but repetition provides a similar impact on the poem.

Both poems also include symbols. The shortness of the Suicide Note symbolizes how some human beings prefer to give up their lives early. Although the words cool and calm demarcation with the subject of the poem, imply that committing suicide would be a comfort to those trying to flee their troubles. Richard Cory's personality, and those that seem to be up to him, are symbols of social classification and economics. Richard Cory symbolizes the upper class, 'And he was richer-yes, richer than a king.'(Robinson 1034). The different characters in the poem are the center or lower class that idolize Richard Cory and who would do something to have a life like his. This is shown in lines thirteen and fourteen, “So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread”(Robinson 1034).

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Irony plays a role in both poems as well. The whole of Suicide's Note is ironic. Although the river in the poem is supposed to be cool and calm, it can be implied that the concept of an individual willing to commit suicide is no longer calm at all. The 'asked for a kiss'(Hughes 695) is both ironic and rather frightening because the reader can assert that getting a kiss from the river conveys that a person is coming to the end of their existence. Richard Cory's irony is less complicated to comprehend. Towards the end of the poem when Richard Cory kills himself this becomes clear that despite how unlucky he was, he would no longer be entirely satisfied with his presence. His end is ironic because there is no definite proof that he was sad or lonely.

In both poems, they have a comparable mood bearing on suicidal ideas such as depression. However, the poems go about this differently. In Suicide's Note, the typical mood of the poem is displaying that it gives off a sense of hopelessness and depression. It suggests the character in the poem has nothing else to live life anymore. It’s too low to see the river as a man or woman virtually asking for a kiss. In Richard Cory, there are two topics to this poem. A phase of this poem offers a cozy and relaxed feeling. Even the humans in the poem looking at the man say that they would love to be in his shoes. Richard looks to have the world in his palms. But any other part of the poem indicates a horrible mood when the reader realizes that Richard shot himself in the head. The theme then modifications dramatically from satisfied and calm to terrible and unexpected. This giant exchange in the temper permits this poem to go down to in shape up with Suicide's Note.

Both Langston Hughes and Edward Arlington Robinson use several common forms of figurative meanings to help progress their poem. In Hughes’ poem Suicide's Note, he makes use of personification as a primary phase of the poem. He makes the river feel like a human asking every other to ask for a kiss. It indicates the desperation in the man or woman of the poem. In Robinson’s poem, He uses metaphors to make Richard Cory feel like a greater than the common person. An example would be “...richer than a king…”(Robinson 1034), to exhibit Cory is a wealthy person. This places more attention on him as we continue to connect to him as we examine the poem.

As each of the poems was equal in many exceptional categories, they both had been in a position to show these accomplishments in special ways. The poems Suicide’s Note and Richard Cory used language, theme, and figurative meanings to help differentiate every difference while expressing identical ideals. The multidimensional language in these poems communicates this to make us feel about a feeling of hopelessness and depression. This suggests that poetry can be something you choose it to be, and trade one's ideals drastically

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Essay on Langston Hughes ‘Suicide’s Note’. (2024, February 28). Edubirdie. Retrieved May 3, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-langston-hughes-suicides-note/
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Essay on Langston Hughes ‘Suicide’s Note’. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-langston-hughes-suicides-note/> [Accessed 3 May 2024].
Essay on Langston Hughes ‘Suicide’s Note’ [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2024 Feb 28 [cited 2024 May 3]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/essay-on-langston-hughes-suicides-note/
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