During the Civil Rights Movement, Langston Hughes and Robert Hayden each wrote poems addressing the future of the movement. Two such poems, which expressed hope for the future and for equality for black Americans, were Hughes' “Me Too” and Hayden's “Douglass.” Although both poems address a better, brighter future, they arrive there in different ways. Both poets use very specific tones and voices for their poems, creating two very different experiences for readers to arrive in the same liberated future. Hughes' first-person poem creates a much more immediate sense of the future and creates a personal emotional response to oppression. The degree of distance in Hayden's poem, however, allows the poem to be more abstract and passionate, read as an emotional response rather than inspiring emotional responses. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Hughes' poem “Me Too” is written in the first person, inviting the reader to put themselves in the position of “ I”, to experience the emotional journey of the narrator. “I,” who reveals himself as the “darkest brother” (ln.2), desires a better future. It is not a question of a distant future, but of a future that he imagines seizing “tomorrow” (ln.8). Immediacy manifests through the seemingly small-scale victories in which the narrator defines this better future. The narrator uses the dinner table as an indicator of having achieved the equality he desires. The smallness of the event also allows more personalized emotions to seep into the voice of the poem. The narrator is frustrated and angry, as he "dares" (ln.11) anyone to send him off the table tomorrow, and imagines how "shame" (ln.17) those who sent him away will feel for him. have done. They will be ashamed of having refused the "handsome" (ln.16) and "strong" (ln.7) narrator, Hughes' black America, the right to join them. The narrator's strength comes from surviving oppression, and it is with this strength that he will be raised toward equality, using fear and defiance to defeat his oppressors. The poem continues with hope hoping that one day the narrator will not be seen as an equal through fear and force, but will be accepted as an equal through the sincere regret of others for oppressing him. black America, comes full circle, but grows along the journey. When he begins, he “sing[s] America” (ln.1). He longs for America and he has the voice of America, a man of the poor and huddled masses. At the end of the poem, his future is not realized, but he imagines it, he sees it, he can almost grasp it. And with that future within reach, that equality and liberty and liberty, he no longer simply yearns for America. He realizes that his struggle and his power to overcome mean that he “[is] America” (ln.18). Hayden does not use a first person narrator in his poem “Douglass,” but writes his poem as a romantic outburst of feeling. Since the reader does not receive an identity, from "I", he must imagine himself to be the perhaps of the public to which Hayden is addressing. When Hayden writes “ours” in the first line, he sets the oratorical tone and immediately creates a distinction between himself and the reader; a distinction that is absent in “Me Too.” “Ours” tells us that this poem is not about us specifically. It is not a question of a single point of view, but of a people, of a race, which demands its freedom. Unlike Hughes' poem, "Douglass" is not motivated by the actions of the narrator, but by the passion and emotion of the speaker. “.’