“I, Too” is a poem by Langston Hughes. First published in 1926, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the poem portrays American racism as experienced by a black man. In the poem, white people deny the speaker a literal and metaphorical seat at the table. However, the speaker asserts that he is just as much as part of America as are white people, and that soon the rest of the country will be forced to acknowledge the beauty and strength of black people.
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The Full Text of “I, Too”
1I, too, sing America.
2I am the darker brother.
3They send me to eat in the kitchen
4When company comes,
5But I laugh,
6And eat well,
7And grow strong.
8Tomorrow,
9I’ll be at the table
10When company comes.
11Nobody’ll dare
12Say to me,
13“Eat in the kitchen,”
14Then.
15Besides,
16They’ll see how beautiful I am
17And be ashamed—
18I, too, am America.
The Full Text of “I, Too”
1I, too, sing America.
2I am the darker brother.
3They send me to eat in the kitchen
4When company comes,
5But I laugh,
6And eat well,
7And grow strong.
8Tomorrow,
9I’ll be at the table
10When company comes.
11Nobody’ll dare
12Say to me,
13“Eat in the kitchen,”
14Then.
15Besides,
16They’ll see how beautiful I am
17And be ashamed—
18I, too, am America.
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“I, Too” Summary
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“I, Too” Themes
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Racism and American Identity
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “I, Too”
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Line 1
I, too, sing America.
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Lines 2-7
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong. -
Lines 8-14
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then. -
Lines 15-18
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
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“I, Too” Symbols
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Kitchen
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Company
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Table
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“I, Too” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Consonance
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Allusion
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Refrain
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Extended Metaphor
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Polysyndeton
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Parallelism
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“I, Too” 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.
- Sing
- America
- Darker Brother
- Kitchen
- Company
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “I, Too”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“I, Too” Speaker
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“I, Too” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “I, Too”
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More “I, Too” Resources
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External Resources
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"I, Too" Read Aloud — The poet Langston Hughes recites his poem "I, Too."
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All You Need is a Wall — A high school teacher imagines what happens to the speaker of "I, Too" when he steps out of the kitchen.
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"I, Too" and the Smithsonian Museum — Smithsonian historian David Ward writes about Langston Hughes' poem "I, Too" and reflects on its importance to the Smithsonian's attempts to preserve African-American culture and history.
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Langston Hughes Biography — A detailed biography of Langston Hughes from The Poetry Foundation.
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An Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance — A detailed introduction to the Harlem Renaissance—with links to key poems by Hughes and other figures associated with the movement—from the Poetry Foundation.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Langston Hughes
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