School of Humanities and Media Studies.English DepartmentCourse Essay in BA Literature 7.5 hpCourse code: EN 1015Supervisor: Katherina DodouA comparative analysis of Harlem and Altar: topic, theme and figurative languageJunyu.WuThis essay will look at two poems, …Harlem‟ by Langston Hughes and …Altar‟ by Marilyn Chin and analyzes the topics, the themes and figurative languages, especially in the use of figurative language. The aim of this paper is to compare the two poems and find the similarity of them which is topic and the differences of them which are theme and the use of figurative language.Both poems …Harlem‟ and …Altar‟ have a similar topic that is about the American dream. The readers can find that from the following examples. I n the …Harlem‟, the first stanza …what happens to a dream deferred?‟ the reader can know that Hughes is interested in a dream in his poem. Also, from the word …deferred‟, we can find something negative, which is able to be explained that Hughes‟ dream can‟t be finished so it has to be deferred. The same example could be find in last stanza …Or does it explode?‟ after …explode‟, we get nothing. So, the dream or goal is maybe just an ideal but couldn‟t be done. Then, link the title of the poem …Harlem‟which is a small town in New York, we can get the answer that is the topic of this poem is about a negative American dream.Similarly, the topic of …Altar‟ is also about the American dream, this can be seen in the fifth line …the Golde n Mountain Edition‟ that is a kind of newspaper in California, the place is located in northwest of America. Then, the second line of third stanza of the poem …who danced around that immigrant dream‟, the readers can understand that the poem is about an immigrant dream of America. Again, by the last line of the second stanza …last cry‟, it sounds like something negative, we could imagine that if a person just has a …last cry‟ but without anything, it will be very sadly. In this way of thinking, the topic of …Altar‟ is also about a negative American dream. Therefore, we should admit that the two poems …Harlem‟ and …Altar‟have a similar topic that is about the negative American dream.A comparison of the poems shows a different use of figurative language in relation to the American dream. Firstly, Hughes uses …similes‟to describe the American dream. The examples of word use are …like‟, …as‟ and …than‟, these are …similes‟ in the use of figurative language. Again, Hughes…s similes have something negative of American dream. By the second and third stanza, …Does it dry up like araisin in the sun?‟ a raisin in the sun is really a metaphor for his dream also it has something negative, a raisin is already dry, if a raisin in the sun, it will be hard to eat because it is too dry. Similarly, …Does it stink like rotten meat?‟, the fresh meat already has some smelling, if it turns to bad and becomes rotten meat, it will be very stinky. Also, …like a syrupy sweet? ‟ the syrupy is a kind of sugar and the sweet is also a type of sugar, each of them is tasty and sweet, but if we put them together it will be too sweet and cannot be eaten. In this way, in Hughes‟s poem the American dream is liked a dry raisin, rotten meat or a syrupy sweet, the dream put off too long so it becomes dry and has horrible odor. It seems to be delayed too long and nearly die. According to this, the readers can realize that Hughes uses these similes to show his negative effect of the dream‟s deferral.However, in the poem …Altar‟, Chin‟s use of different figurative language in describing the American dream is rather focused on …metaphors‟. Examples of word used is …is‟. In the last line of the second stanza …Of her seasonal life is a dash Of shimmery powder, a last cry‟ a dash of shimmery powder is a metaphor and represents something happened in speaker‟s life, it could be a revolution and then failed because after …a dash‟just has …a last cry‟. Equally, the second stanza …A deathtrap shines on the dying bougainvilleas‟ a deathtrap shines‟ is also a metaphor and means something seems to disappear and die. It is very negative and represents speaker‟s external conflict that is something seems to die so the author wants to protect it. Then, …a geomancer‟in the poem; it is a very traditional Chinese stuff, which is a kind of Chinese witch. In the poem, that represents Chinese culture. From here, we can understand that the thing that Chin wants to protect is the Chinese immigrations identity in USA.As the examples have shown, the poems have different theme. The theme of …Harlem‟is the American dream in African American people‟s mind. The author Hughes talks about black people‟s life, mood and dream in Harlem, they want to get the same opportunity as white people but they can‟t because they are still suffering from the racial discrimination. This is suggested in the negative similes …dry raisin‟…rotten meat‟ and …syrupy sweet‟. So, the dream is very hard to be accomplished in Harlem. On the other hand, in the poem …Altar‟, the setting is in America, but from author Chin‟s metaphors such as …a geomancer‟ and the second stanza …who danced around that immigrant dream‟, the theme of …Altar‟ is the American dream in Chinese immigrant‟s mind, the author Chin mentions about immigrants who live in USA‟s life, they miss their family members who are in China and they want to keep their identity and Chinese culture in America. This is can be find in negative metaphor …deathtrap shines‟ and …last cry‟, the Chinese culture in America likes a deathtrap shine and seems to die. So, Chinese immigrants are crying for that and they try to protect Chinese culture in America. …Last cry‟ can also be explained that Chinese immigrants miss their family members in China, so they are crying for missing their family.In conclusion, this essay analyzes that the similarity and differences in both poems. But still after the comparison, the readers should concede that the poems still are very different. The poems all talk about the American dream, but Hughes is interested in African American‟s life and culture and Chin is interested in Chinese immigrants‟ life and culture. Also, the authors use different figurative language to describe their dream.Work cited:Chin, Marilyn. “Altar.” The Phoenix Gone, the Terrace Empty. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1994. 29. BiographyHughes, Langston. “Harlem.” The Norton Introduction to Poetry. Eds. J. Paul Hunter et. al NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 2002. 383。