Linked PYQ
5. Study the following poem and answer the questions which follow : 10x5=50
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down and write this page :
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you are older—and white—
and somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
(a) "And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true." Comment on the teacher's instruction.
(b) How does the young man describe himself in the next lines?
(c) What does the poet mean by "we two—you, me, talk on this page"?
(d) I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you : (I hear New York, too.) Explain.
(e) Analyse the poem from the perspective of the Harlem Renaissance.
Study the following poem