Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
Unnamed speaker; can be assumed to be a version of Langston Hughes himself
Form and Meter
Free Verse
Metaphors and Similes
The “dark shadows” referenced at the end of the second stanza are a metaphor for the sorrowful subject matter that occupies Aunt Sue’s tales. Aunt Sue’s stories are full of sorrow and mystery that the speaker portrays as “dark shadows that cross and recross / Aunt Sue’s stories” (lines 15-16).
Alliteration and Assonance
“Aunt Sue has a whole heart full of stories.”
Line two of the poem emphasizes the earnest nature of Aunt Sue’s stories through alliteration.
“Singing sorrow songs on the banks of a mighty river”
Line eleven of the poem contains alliteration with the letter “s” that gives the poem a level of musicality while emphasizing how song uplifts the enslaved despite the tragic nature of their lives.
Irony
Genre
African American folklore
Setting
Summer Nights
Tone
Nostalgic, solemn, melancholy
Protagonist and Antagonist
Major Conflict
Climax
The climax of Aunt Sue’s Stories” is when the child realizes that Aunt Sue’s stories come from her own life experiences.
“And the dark-faced child, listening,
Knows that Aunt Sue’s stories are real stories.
He knows that Aunt Sue never got her stories
Out of any book at all,
But that they came
Right out of her own life.“ (lines 17-22)
Foreshadowing
Understatement
Allusions
The brown-faced child is an allusion to Langston Hughes himself, as the poem is based on his life experiences with oral storytelling in his family.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The first two lines contain instances of synecdoche:
“Aunt Sue has a head full of stories.
Aunt Sue has a whole heart full of stories.”
The head is a part of the body that represents logic, thoughts, and memories. When the speaker points to Aunt Sue’s head they indicate how Aunt Sue’s stories are derived from memory. The heart is a part of the body that represents emotion, feelings, and passion. By noting that Aunt Sue’s stories come from the heart the speaker reveals that Aunt Sue’s stories evoke strong emotion in herself and her listeners.
Personification
The river in “Aunt Sue’s Stories” is personified as “mighty” in the second stanza (line 11). As a potent symbol in much of Hughes’ work, the river in this poem takes on the qualities of a sentient being. It has a strong character that is personified beyond a simple portrayal of flowing water.
