High to Low

Content Warning: This section of the guide features discussions of racism.

The poem links to three genres. It’s a lyric poem, which is relatively short and represents the personal feelings of the poet. Additionally, the poem works as satire. Through his speaker, Hughes exaggerates the socioeconomic class antagonism within the Black community to spotlight the ridiculousness of blaming the problems of Black people in the United States on less-affluent Black people. The hyperbole produces humor, but the humor comes with a message. The moral of the poem makes it a didactic poem. Through his flabbergasted speaker, Hughes dictates a lesson: Black people from a “high” socioeconomic class often blame Black people from a “low” socioeconomic for their many “troubles” (Line 2), but they shouldn’t. Less economically privileged Black people are not the reason why Black people as a whole face so many “problems” (Line 24). 

The title indicates the identity of the speaker and addressee. The speaker is a Black person with an affluent socioeconomic status; thus, they come from the “high” class. They believe that they act decently, so they set a good example for Black people.