Nazaire Idoura

Whitley
English IV
15 April 2016
Poem Analysis: Night Funeral in Harlem
Night Funeral in Harlem is a poem written by Langston Hughes. The word night is used
because of the dark and gloomy circumstances surrounding a boy who died. When reading the
title the first time, the first thing that comes to mind is a black boy who died in Harlem.
The poem starts off talking about two nice cars that the boys friends provided. An
insurance man that wasnt paid so the company couldnt help. A satin box was used for the boys
head to lay. The poem then talks about the flowers from people in the community. A greedy old
preacher charges five dollars to the preach at the funeral and the poem mentions the boys
girlfriend paying, The last stanza talks about the casket being carried down the street and the
collective effort to make the funeral happen and made it a grand one. From the girlfriend of the
boy to various people in the community, the amount of love shown for the boy was immense.
Hughes uses a very important word in this poem: insurance. It is a neutral word that has a
major significance in this poem. The significance of insurance being used is that the author is
really talking about the boys life span: His insurance lapsed the other day. The word insurance
in this poem means loss of life because the boy died the other day. The author tries to send a very
important message: Human relationships are very important despite significant adversity. The
author portrays the old preacher as greedy and also sends the message that people dont know
whats really important in life.

The author is sad about this occurrence and his tone is mostly dark and gloomy just like
some of the words he uses in the poem, such as night. There is a feeling of loss and bitterness at
first then a feeling of great love in the end because the community came together to make the
boys funeral happen. There are some attitude shifts in the poem because of the support from the
community.
The attitude the author shows toward the poem changes from sadness to suspense
because the author didnt expect flowers to be taken to the boys funeral. The authors tone
changes from dark and gloomy to a tone full of joy. The funeral is taking place in such a dark and
gloomy area yet flowers from people who may or may not know the boy were sent to the funeral
and that changed the tone of the poem. The flowers symbolize light and hope in such a difficult
time.
The title of this poem relates to the pain that the community is dealing with. The word
night is describing how dark and gloomy the area where the funeral is taking place. The theme
of this poem is the concept of a black boy dying and the community coming together just to
make his funeral happen with love and support despite dark and gloomy times.