Literature test

What do the words"it' and "then" refer to when the poet says:"But it was .1
*?"there then

.It refers to the dream, Then refers when the speaker was young

The poem describes : how the poet's perspective changes as he grows older.

2. In your own words write two things we learn about the speaker from the
poem.*

He is an African-American, he had a dream when he was a child, The speaker

experienced prejudice and racism.

3.The speaker's perspective changes...*

twice throughout the poem.

4.At what points in the poem does the speaker's mood change?*

The speaker's mood changes twice in the poem, It happens when he sees the wall
rising slowly until It touches the sky and hides the light of his dream. He becomes
sad and depressed. His mood changes again when he decides to break through the
wall and find his dream. He becomes optimistic and full of energy.

5.From the way the poem ends,what can we infer about the personality of the
speaker?*

We can learn that the speaker is adetermined person,who is able to overcome his
despair and depresion and the passivity they cause and find in himself the courage
and will to fight for his dream.

6.What do you think will be the effect of breaking through the wall?*

It will lead to the speaker fulfilling his personal dreams. It will lead to equality
between all people and the end of racism.

7.The poet uses different symbols in the poem.Chooose two of them and
explain what they represent.*

The sun/light represents the speaker's dream. The wall represents the obstacles
(racism, discrimination,prejudice) which were on his way to his dream. The
shadow/darkness represents the feeling of sadness,loss and depression. the
speaker feels because he coudln't overcome the obstacles .
8.Why is the poem called "As I grew older"?*

The poet describes the process of growing up,of developing from a child into a
mature person.

As an innocent child who knows nothing about the real world,he has a dream
which is as bright as a sun. As he grows older and becomes a youth,he encounters
the reality of inequality, opression and prejudice and understands he will never be
able to realize his dream. He feels defeated and depressed. But then he grows
more mature and understands that he cannot continue lying in darkness and has
to act and fight for his dream. He realizes that he will attain his dream if he takes
action. He faces reality knowing what he has to do.

9. Bridging task

The poem is about an African-American whose childhood dreams are shattered as

he grows up in America. L.H was also an African-American who grow up in
America. He fought for racial equality and is speaking for all African-American who
lived in America that time. In the poem the speaker and the poet are probably the
same person. The speaker experiences racism growing up and ant fulfil his
potential. At the end of the poem, the speaker breaks through the wall with his dark
hands. This shows pride in his blackness and African heritage. He expresses hope
for the future of racial equality and freedom. It is significant that the speaker uses
his hands to break through the wall of prejudice and to achieve his dreams,
because through art, literature and music they can be equal with other nations.

10. In his poem dream L.Hughes says: "When dreams go, life is barren field frozen
with snow". Make a connection between the above quote and the poem. Support
your answer with information from the poem.

What L. Hughes says in in the above quote is that if the person has no dreams, his life is
barren-meaningless and fruitless. In other words, if a person wants his life to be fruitful
and fulfilling, he must have dreams. In the poem "As I grew older" the speaker forgets his
dream when a wall of obstacles rises between him and his dream because he is black.
He lies down in the shadow. He is unable to do anything, to create or to give life meaning .
He is in the darkness of despair as life is not worth living. Only when he decides to fight for
his dream, does he find the energy, the pride and the hope that make life worth living. The
two poems actually have the same message: people have to have a dream, something to
aspire to, something that will give meaning to their lives.

More questions:

1. Who is the speaker?

 The speaker of the poem is a black person African-american.

2. What does the speaker remember about his childhood?

The speaker remember his childhood as a happy optimistic time . dreams hopes
and faith for the future.

3. What has changed since then?

Since then a wall has risen up between the speaker and his dreams, and it doesn’t
allowed the poet to achieve them.

4. The speaker mentions his hands. What do his hands do?

Hand are important in the poem because the are a "tool" to break down the wall.

They are a means of achieving the dream.

5. The poem is about the inability of achieve childhood dreams because of racism
and prejudice. When the speaker was young he had dreams of achieving great
things. His dreams were "bright like a sun" . as he grow up he experienced
prejudice and racial discrimination and he is naïve and optimistic. Dream were
shattered. The racism and prejudice the

6. can we say that the poem is only optimistic?*

The poem is both optimistic and pessimistic. The poem starts on an

optimistic note describing the dream that the speaker had as a child.
However, when the speaker grows up he realizes the great obstacles
prevent him from realizing his dream. The speaker describes them as a very
high wall that touches the sky and hides the light of his dream. This is the
passimistic aspect of the poem. At the end of the poem the speaker is filled
with energy and believes he can overcome the obstacles that stand in his
way . The poem ends on an optimistic note.