Island

Island

by Langston Hughes

Wave of sorrow,
Do not drown me now:

I see the island
Still ahead somehow.

I see the island
And its sands are fair:

Wave of sorrow,
Take me there.

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Island is an eight line poem, broken up into four couplets, with a rhyme scheme of ABCB, DEFE.

In the short poem, Hughes paints the picture of a drowning man at sea, beset by waves, trying to hang on just a little longer because he knows an island is still ahead and in view. The picture is a metaphor, with the waves representing an almost unbearable struggle, and the island representing a place of safety, or a place of peace. The metaphor is really effective because waves have both the power to drown but also the power to push objects in their grip onto land. Sorrow and struggle is much the same. Those emotions can overcome someone in its grips and destroy them, but it can also sometimes push that person on toward something better.

It is unclear from the text whether the work here is explicitly about civil rights, or better race relations, or if it about a more personal struggle. Either way, the simple beauty and structure of the piece gives its readers an opportunity to personalize its message.