How would you imitate "Theme for English B" to write a poem about your life?

Imitating the poem's basic form and structure to write your own "Theme for English B" about yourself and your own life, create a poem in free verse that reveals aspects of who you are.

The poem is in free verse, so you don’t have to worry about meter or beats. In Langston Hughes's poem, stanzas 3 and 4 appear to have longer lines, while the end of stanza 5 has shorter lines. Maybe your lines could follow that pattern. The first and last stanzas could be one line long, and the second stanza could consist of a prompt. Instead of an “instructor,” perhaps a friend or family member or even you ask to write the truth about who you are. While the poem doesn’t have a set rhyme scheme, there are rhymes, so try and throw some rhymes in and make it a bit musical.

In Hughes’s poem, the speaker tells about where he was born, where he goes to school, what makes him unique, and some of the things he likes. Perhaps you could include where you were born, where you go to school, what makes you unique, and some of the things you like. For example, the speaker likes to “work, read, learn, and understand life.” The speaker also likes “Bessie, bop, or Bach.” Maybe list some of the music you like or your favorite activities.

How would you emulate Langston Hughes's "Theme for English B" in a poem about your life?

As the prompt suggests, Langston Hughes's poem provides a blueprint to follow as you write your own story. Like him, you would start with where you were born, where you went to school, where you live now, and how you travel from points A to B in your everyday life.

You would then go on to discuss your environment briefly, as Hughes does Harlem: do you feel where you live is a part of you or do you feel alienated from it?

Following this, you would turn, as Hughes does, to noting the surface things you share in common with your fellow humans, such as activities you enjoy—and then a few details of what you like that sets you apart. Hughes, for example, mentions the pipe he wants for Christmas and music he likes.

After that, you might mention an aspect of you that you feel sets you apart from others, such as ethnicity or gender, and then ways you feel connected to the rest of humanity. Finally, what you have written should lead you to an ending thought you can share.

The beauty of this format is that you will inevitably make it your own.