"Homecoming" is a short poem by the American poet Langston Hughes, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. The poem describes a homecoming that's anything but joyful: instead of returning to a happy scene, the poem's speaker walks through the door to find their lover, and all of her things, gone. The poem illustrates how the pain of heartbreak can transform a warm, familiar space into nothing but a lonely, alienating "room." Hughes first published "Homecoming" in 1949.

• Read the full text of “Homecoming”

• “Homecoming” Summary

• “Homecoming” Themes

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    The Pain of Lost Love

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-8

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Homecoming”

  • Lines 1-2

    I went back ...
    ... up my door.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-4

    All her clothes ...
    ... home no more.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-6

    I pulled back ...
    ... down the bed.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-8

    A ...
    ... thing I had.

    

    

    

    

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• “Homecoming” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-6

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “I went back the alley”
    • Line 2: “I opened up my door.”
    • Line 5: “I pulled back the covers,”
    • Line 6: “I made down the bed.”

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “All her clothes was gone:”
    • Line 4: “She wasn't home no more.”
    • Line 5: “I pulled back the covers,”
    • Line 6: “I made down the bed.”

• “Homecoming” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Alley
  • Made Down the Bed
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “I went back the alley”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Homecoming”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Homecoming” Speaker

• “Homecoming” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Homecoming”

• More “Homecoming” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Hughes's Life and Work — Read a short biography of Hughes from the Poetry Foundation.

    • "The Elusive Langston Hughes" — Read an article by writer and critic Hilton Als about Hughes's careful public persona and the complex, real person behind the poems.

    • The Harlem Renaissance — Read an introduction to the Harlem Renaissance, a groundbreaking cultural movement of which Hughes was an integral part. 

    • A Hughes Documentary — Watch a 2002 film about Hughes's life.

    • Jazz Poetry — Learn more about the innovate form Hughes helped pioneer.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes

    • As I Grew Older

    • Aunt Sue's Stories

    • Cross

    • Daybreak in Alabama

    • Democracy

    • Dreams

    • Dream Variations

    • Harlem

    • I Look at the World

    • I, Too

    • Let America Be America Again

    • Mother to Son

    • Night Funeral in Harlem

    • The Ballad of the Landlord

    • Theme for English B

    • The Negro Speaks of Rivers

    • The Weary Blues

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