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“Me and the Mule” is separated into two stanzas of four lines each. The poem has a rhyme scheme of abcb aded. Although the poem does not use a formal meter, there are key differences between the rhythm of the first and second stanzas.
The first stanza’s metrical units are longer, with between six and eight beats per line. Only the first line of the first stanza contains a shorter syllabic count (of three beats.) The second stanza has a faster rhythm, with shorter beats and fewer syllables per line. Two of the lines come in at five beats, and another finishes with six beats. The final line of the poem metrically echoes the first, with only three words containing one syllable each.
The form and meter of “Me and the Mule” underscore the poem’s two themes. The first stanza introduces the poem’s central metaphor and providing description of the racial inequality, stereotyping, and loss of identity suffered by the speaker. Its lines are longer and its rhythm is slower, with an array of downbeats providing a sense of downward, falling momentum.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
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Dreams
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Harlem
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I look at the world
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I, Too
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Let America Be America Again
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Mother to Son
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Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
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Not Without Laughter
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Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
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The Big Sea
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Theme for English B
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The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Langston Hughes
African American Literature
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American Literature
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Books About Race in America
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Books on U.S. History
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Civil Rights & Jim Crow
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Contemporary Books on Social Justice
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Diverse Voices (High School)
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Diverse Voices (Middle Grade)
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Equality
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Harlem Renaissance
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Poetry: Perseverance
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Pride & Shame
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Short Poems
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