18 pages • 36 minutes read
Langston HughesTired
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1931A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“Tired” is a lyric poem, which is generally a short poem that expresses the personal viewpoints of the poet or speaker. The poet uses free verse to express his thoughts on the world, therefore he is not restrained by iambic pentameter or other regular meter. However, the form of “Tired” appears deliberate, with Line 2 and Line 8 intentionally clipped and Lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 staying within five to eight syllables.
Hughes employs a subtle but identifiable rhyme scheme, with “you” (Line 2) rhyming with “two” (Line 6), and “kind” (Line 4) rhyming with “rind” (Line 8). The rhymes and jumpy meter reflect the influence of jazz and blues, as these two musical genres allow the artist to create rhyme and rhythm. The two swerves in line length reflect jazz and blues’ ability to produce sounds of different lengths in the same composition—whether those sounds come from the jazz musician's instrument, the blues singer’s mouth, or the poet.
Another way to think about the form is in the context of a riddle. The poem is a lyric, but it can also be seen as a puzzle because the speaker doesn’t provide a clear solution to the problem of the “worms” (Line 7). It’s up to the reader to draw conclusions.
Diction
The diction of “Tired” helps convey the speaker’s message. From one angle, the speaker’s message is clear. The speaker doesn't want to sit around and wait for the world to become a better place any longer—his patience and passivity have worn out. Conversely, the speaker isn’t clear about what such a world might look like as a world that is “good / And beautiful and kind” (Lines 3-4) could resemble a variety of things. More so, the speaker isn’t specific about why the world is so bad. He uses the word “worms” (Line 7), which implies bad actors without identifying the exact malevolent behavior.
The use of general, imprecise diction is intentional, as Hughes uses this literary device to create an accessible and readable poem. From a philosophical standpoint, a person can analyze words like “beautiful” and “good” ad nauseam. Yet Hughes’s poem isn’t trying to debate the meaning of such words. The poem isn’t a deep dive into the complex issues facing the world in the 1930s. Such an evaluation is for another time, and the diction in “Tired” sets the stage for a longer discussion. The poem assumes the reader agrees with the speaker that the world is not in good shape, and, now that they agree on the basics, they can dissect the world—“cut the world in two” (Line 6)—and, once they see “what worms are eating / At the rind” (Lines 7-8), a more elaborate dialogue can begin.
Symbolism
Through symbolism, Hughes crafts a message about the world without coming across as didactic. The speaker relies on symbols to avoid weighty political analysis. Hughes is creating a poem, not a polemic. The speaker in “Tired” isn’t starting an argument over the rotten shape of the world, nor is he trying to present a thesis to convince his audience that the world isn’t good, kind, or beautiful. The speaker assumes the reader agrees with him. He then disarms his presumption through nonthreatening symbols. For example, the speaker doesn’t call for a revolution, which might unsettle some readers. Instead, he lets seemingly innocuous words like “good,” “beautiful,” and “kind” represent the type of world the speaker would like to bring about.
Symbolism also allows the speaker to avoid coming across as overzealous about going after the bad actors. The speaker never uses words like “evil” or “bad" because he lets the “worms” (Line 7) symbolize the sinister elements of society. Even though the poem revolves around contentious issues, symbolism allows the speaker to keep the poem agreeable, as most readers would agree that a beautiful and kind world is ideal.
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By Langston Hughes
