Menganalisis puisi dilakukan untuk mengetahui arti atau makna yang terkandung dalam suatu puisi. Dalam menganalisis puisi, penulis bebas bagaimana mereka menginterpretasikan dari sudut pandang apa yang ingin dibahas. Pada kesempatan kali ini, saya akan membagikan hasil analisis puisi berjudul "Cross" karya Langston Hughes. Penasaran bagaimana hasil analisisnya? Simak hasil analisisnya dibawah ini.
CROSS
Langston Hughes
My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I’m gonna die,
Being neither white
nor black |
| Source. slideshare.com |
Analisis Puisi CROSS Karya Langston Hughes
Cross is a short poem that has been written by Langston
Hughes which contains a deep meaning. This poem talks about racism issues that
ever experienced in his life in America. Not only about racism issues, but also
about divorce that ever happened in his family. In this poem, the author is
bitter about being a mullato (mixed race). It is evident that bitterness
does not only come from being neither
white nor black, but also from the contrasting living conditions his mother
and father lived. The author does not have a self identity. Reconstructing this
scene in realm of history, it is possible that the speaker was a slave who has
a black mother and a white father. The speaker has a hard time finding his
place in the society and is stuck between two prevalent extremes, poor black
and rich whites. In this poem, the writer, Langston Hughes, has used persona
device because he was bi-racial himself. The speaker expresses anger and
confusion. The speaker shows his/her anger through cursing both rich “white old
man” and poor “black old mother”. This poem also shows the reader about how the
“white old man” represent to Native American and the “black old mother”
represent to African, run their own life after the divorce issues.
My old man’s a white old man (1)
And my old mother’s black. (2)
In
this opening lines, clearly stated that speaker wants to show the readers about
his/her parent who have different races. His/her father comes from American
that is shown in the first line as “white old man” and his/her mother comes
from African that is shown in the second line as “black old mother”.
If ever I cursed my white old man (3)
I take my curses back. (4)
If ever I cursed my black old mother (5)
And wished she were in hell, (6)
I’m sorry for that evil wish (7)
And now I wish her well. (8)
These
lines implicate that the narrator at some point has been upset with his or her
parents and conveys a feeling of bitterness. The speaker is at odds with his
parents' differences and the impact they have had on his or her life and
identity. At the beginning the speaker makes threats at his/her parents but at
the middle, the speaker takes back the threats and asking for forgiveness for
his previous afflictions and the poem takes on a sorrowful or regretful tone. The
two lines, "I take my curses back" and "I'm sorry for that evil
wish", shows that the speaker apologizes for the threats and curses made
earlier.
My old man died in a fine big house. (9)
My ma died in a shack. (10)
In
these lines, the speaker tells about the racism that ever happened in America.
The speaker shows the readers about the contrast of his/her parent life
condition. His/her father as the native died
in a fine big house that represent about a decent and prosperous life and
his/her mother died in a shack that
represent about poverty and misery caused by the racism issues at the time.
I wonder where I’m gonna die, (11)
Being neither white nor black. (12)
In
the last lines a sense become to confusion through the words. "I wonder where I'm going to die, Being
neither white nor black." (lines 11-12). The speaker is lost and has
not clear path before him/her. It is understood where a white man will die and
where a black woman will die but because this individual is somewhere in
between he/she is unsure of their destiny. The speaker has no real place in the
world, no sure identity, and cannot identify with the white community or the
black community.
It
is necessary to find out the real meaning of the poem and the background
history why the speaker create this poem by using a certain perspective. In
consideration on the life time of Langston Hughes and his parent, it would be
fit to analyze the poem through socio-history perspective.
Langston
Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, the second child of school teacher Carrie
(Caroline) Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes (1871–1934). He was born
on February 1st, 1902 and Died on May 22nd, 1967. His
literary contributions leave a permanent mark on African American culture. In
his poetry he frequently spoke of situations that would have been common in
every day African American existence during that period and may still be
present today.
Langston
Hughes grew up in a series of Midwestern small towns. Hughes' father left his
family and later divorced Carrie. He traveled to Cuba and then Mexico, seeking
to escape the enduring racism in the United States.
Like many African
Americans, Hughes has complex ancestry. Both of Hughes' paternal
great-grandmothers were enslaved African Americans and both of his paternal
great-grandfathers were white slave owners in Kentucky. According to Hughes,
one of these men was Sam Clay, a Scottish-American whiskey distiller of Henry
County and supposedly a relative of the statesman Henry Clay. The other was
Silas Cushenberry, a Jewish-American slave trader of Clark County. Hughes's
maternal grandmother Mary Patterson was of African-American, French, English
and Native American descent. One of the first women to attend Oberlin College,
she married Lewis Sheridan Leary, also of mixed race, before her studies. Leary
subsequently joined John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 and died from
his wounds.
In 1869 the widow Mary
Patterson Leary married again, into the elite, politically active Langston
family. Her second husband was Charles Henry Langston, of African-American,
Euro-American and Native American ancestry. He and his younger brother John
Mercer Langston worked for the abolitionist cause and helped lead the Ohio
Anti-Slavery Society in 1858. Charles Langston later moved to Kansas, where he
was active as an educator and activist for voting and rights for African
Americans. Charles and Mary's daughter Caroline was the mother of Langston
Hughes.
After his parents
separated, his mother traveled seeking employment, and young Langston Hughes
was raised mainly in Lawrence, Kansas by his maternal grandmother, Mary
Patterson Langston. Through the black American oral tradition and drawing from
the activist experiences of her generation, Mary Langston instilled in her
grandson a lasting sense of racial pride.He spent most of his childhood in
Lawrence. In his 1940 autobiography “The
Big Sea” he wrote: I was unhappy
for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother. From this
sentence, it can be concluded to be a clue or reason why Langston ever cursed his white old man and ever
cursed his black old mother in
his poem, Cross.
After
the death of his grandmother, Hughes went to live with family friends, James
and Mary Reed, for two years. Later, Hughes lived again with his mother Carrie
in Lincoln, Illinois. She had remarried when he was still an adolescent, and
eventually they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended high school.
Through
the socio-history perspective from Langston Hughes, It can be deduced that the
author’s purpose is to express the bitterness, anger, and confusion for being
bi-racial. This poem also holds a real life application experienced by many
African-Americans. It was not uncommon to have a white ancestor and being of
mixed race would have had the consequence of being shunned from both heritages.
Hughes was know for his realism and portrayals of the African American
condition. The speaker is trying to highlight one of the major problems that
face the society, while not many people are aware of it. Bi-racial was a major
problem that affected the society and bi-racial individuals, with no identity,
found it difficult to integrate with the society.
Symbolism
is apparent in the structure of the poem. Hughes cleverly titles the poem
"Cross" which has several interpretations. The speaker is cross or
vexed with his/her parents and also crossed internally. The cross is also a
symbol of the crossroad he/she has come upon in which their path is shrouded in
confusion. His racial ambiguity is also his cross to bear. In life there is
always a trial or tribulation for each person and this burden is his. The cross
also has religious connotations. Hughes is possibly hinting at the sacrificial
son. The speaker feels as if he has been left out to hang or sacrificed to
society. In that same aspect he is seeking redemption for his sin against his
parents and this can be tied to religion as well under "thou shall Honor thy mother, thou shall honor thy father."
References:
Langston Hughes (1940).
The Big Sea. p.36. ISBN 0-8262-1410-X
Faith Berry, Langston Hughes, Before and Beyond Harlem,
Westport, CT:Lawrence Hill & Co.,1983: reprint, Citadel Press, 1922, p.1.
Richard B.Sheridan, “Charles Henry Lanston and the African
American Struggle in Kansas”, Kansas
State History, Winter 1999. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
Laurie F. Leach, Langston Hughes: A Biography, Greenwood
Publishing Group, 2004, pp. 2-4. ISBN 9780313324970.
“Ohio Anti-Slavery
Society – Ohio History Central”. ohiohistorycentral.org.
0 Komentar