This paper looks at Langston Hughes and Theodore Roethke, two contemporary American writers who have been recognized as acclaimed in the same time period, between the late 1930s until the 1950s, wherein most of their poems were published. It analyzes their poetry and discusses the elements used by each in expressing their message within each
poem. The poems reviewed are "My Papa's Waltz" by Roethke and "Children's Rhymes" by Hughes. It examines how these poems depict
physical and
social abuse, respectively and how in Roethke's poem, the theme of physical abuse is illustrated by using
imagery and the utilization of alliteration,
rhyming, symbolism and imagery. It also shows how Hughes' "Children's Rhymes" depicts the social discrimination that
black Americans receive from their society, which is shown through a playful use of words, parallelism and rhyming.