I look at the world

“I, Too” by Langston Hughes (1926)

Both “I, Too” and “I look at the world” feature an “I” in the title and the first line. The poems center around Black speakers unafraid to voice their truth. In “I, Too,” self-love is more explicit: The male speaker looks forward to a day when others will “see how beautiful” (Line 16) he is and “be ashamed” (Line 17) of their racist behavior. Indeed, both poems are rather optimistic about the future. “I look at the world” says there’s a way to knock down oppressive walls and build a nonracist world, while “I, Too” imagines a time when a Black man can eat at the same table as white people. “I, Too” is much more well-known than “I look at the world.”

“Goodbye Christ” by Langston Hughes (1932)

In this poem, Hughes doesn’t use allusion to address the theme and promise of communism. Instead, Hughes uses jaunty rhythm and the lyric form to directly express the idea of replacing Christ, a figure of capitalism, with individuals linked to communism, including Karl Marx and Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the communist Soviet Union.

“Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou (1978)