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

The reader can understand and analyze “High to Low” as an autonomous poem. At the same time, the companion poem, “Low to High,” adds another layer to “High to Low.” As the title of the former poem indicates, the speaker and addressee switch positions, with the Black person from the less affluent socioeconomic class speaking to the Black person from the monied class. Like “High to Low,” “Low to High” features the same literary devices, including juxtaposition and repetition. Three times, the speaker asks the addressee, “How can you forget me?” (Hughes, Langston. “Low to High.” 1949. West-Linn Wilsonville School District. Lines 1, 7, 16). Put in conversation with “High to Low,” the speaker in “Low to High” realizes that the wealthy Black person hasn’t forgotten. They’re painfully aware of the Black person from the “low” socioeconomic class, and the “High to Low” speaker blames them for failing “to uphold the race” (Line 21). 

Together, the two poems illustrate the complexity of class within the Black community. The “Low to High” speaker feels erased and marginalized, while the “High to Low” speaker claims the “Low to High” speaker is thwarting the progress of the entire Black race.