Poetry as Protest: Social Injustice in the Poetry of William Blake and Langston Hughes

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18389710

Abstract

This study explores poetry as a form of protest by examining representations of social injustice in the selected poems of William Blake and Langston Hughes. Drawing on a comparative literary approach, the research analyses how both poets respond to oppression within their distinct historical and cultural contexts. Blake’s poetry exposes institutional, religious, and ideological injustices in late eighteenth-century England through symbolic imagery and visionary critique, particularly highlighting the exploitation of children, the poor, and the marginalised. In contrast, Hughes’s poetry addresses racial discrimination, economic inequality, and social exclusion in twentieth-century America using a direct and accessible voice rooted in everyday African American experience. The findings reveal that despite differences in style and context, both poets employ poetry as a powerful tool of resistance, challenging dominant ideologies and giving voice to marginalised communities. The study concludes that poetic protest transcends time and place, serving as an enduring medium for social critique and the assertion of human dignity.