Analysis of “The Dove”, by Langston Hughes

In the present text I am going to analyseThe Dove, a poem written by Langston Hughes in the ‘60s.

Considering the title a reader would expect the poetry to be about birds, meaning freedom because of the ability to fly away; the poem might focalise on doves too, which are the symbol, due to religion, of peace. Their colour is as white as purity, innocence and redemption, so it reminds to a sense of perfection, something which is impossible to reach.

The poem consists of one stanza, written in free verse, another link to freedom and spontaneity. The first line starts with three dots and the last one finishes with three dots too: this means the poem tells a story not from its beginning and ends without closing the argument; this requires the ability to imagine what the poet chase to overlook.

In the second line the poet introduces an aged Picasso; the intelligent reader asks why that painter. The answer is that Picasso drew many times doves in his paintings; such has in the Geneva Convention’s logo and in the famous Guernica.

There is a common strand between his works, the peace: a declaration of human rights was written in the worldwide conference, and the Guernica is linked to a war.

The poem could be divided into two different and contrasting parts: the first one, from verses 1 to 5, and the second one, between verses 5 and 9.

In the first part there is a personification of the peace in the dove, as I told; peace is as white as doves and “as fragile as pottery”: it is pure, special but also not a factual data and no one has to think peace is reached and war beaten.

The second part is connected to colours, dark ones; it reminds to gloomy thoughts and to war directly. It is particular that the poet wrote these lines like he was lacking them; he wanted to tell that war is, in contrast to peace, a factual data: it belongs to humanity, battle grounds are “our old battle grounds”.

Words used help to underline what is written; the alliteration of the sounds “d” and “a”; the first one conveys the strength and the importance of words (examples are dove, dreams, dark, ground), the second one appease the poem including melancholy (dove, our, ground). There is also a echo-effect, which highlights the distance experiences told.

In this poem the poet showed his ability to build imagines and to create a sense of suspense, helped by language refers to sight, colours and a constant of unspoken.