Who IS Langston Hughes?

Go back to the beginning of the school year. I asked you to write what you are not. And, in doing so, you told me and your classmates a little of who you are, what defines you, what makes you, you. 

Langston Hughes also had a professor ask him to answer those same questions. Read "Theme for English B" to see his response. 

Identify which section of the poem is part of the "page" that Hughes writes for his instructor, and which section represents the thoughts in his mind just before he begins to write. 
ANSWER (1st paragraph): What are the differences between that first stanza, representing the poet's thoughts to himself as he contemplates the assignment, and the subsequent stanzas, which express how he presents himself to an audience, in this case his instructor? List some of things that Hughes includes in his self-presentation and what you think he is telling us.

The poem is straightforward and speaks for itself, but reveals a more subtle and sly speaker the more you reread it and think about how Hughes has turned the instructor's question on its head. 
ANSWER (2nd paragraph): What does he mean when he says, "I hear you: / hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page"? Who is "talking" here? How can Hughes say to his instructor that they are a part of each other? Do we as readers have a part in this conversation?

Questions taken from:  EDsiteMENT! The Best Humanities on the Web

Whitman and Hughes--Closer Together Than Imagined?

Relook at the poems "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman and "I Too, Sing America" by Langston Hughes. Are they similar? How so? How are their views of America different?

Using textual evidence, respond in a clear focused paragraph arguing whether you think they are more similar and why or more different and why.