One way to write a comparison essay is to note the similarities between both poems while acknowledging a main difference between them. Of course, we can make this comparison clear in the thesis statement of the first paragraph. Here are two suggestions for a thesis statement:
1) While both poems acknowledge the consequences of imperialism, Langston Hughes's poem is the only one that explores the question of personal identity.
2) While both poems acknowledge the racial divide that separates the conquered from the colonizing force, Kipling's poem is the only one that characterizes imperialism as a potentially moral enterprise.
From here, we can conceivably use five or more paragraphs to address one of the thesis statements above. In this answer, I will address the first statement: While both poems acknowledge the consequences of imperialism, Langston Hughes's poem is the only one that explores the question of personal identity.
Additionally, whether we choose thesis statement 1 or thesis statement 2, a discussion of imperialism would serve our purposes. Before we discuss the consequences of imperialism (as evidenced in the poems), it would be a good idea to discuss the basis for American imperialism.
Kipling's poem was published at the beginning of the Philippine-American War, while Hughes's poem explores African American integration into white society after the Civil War and Reconstruction. The speaker of Hughes's poem was presumably born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and he now attends college in Harlem, New York. The concepts of Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism (where America deems itself a superior force for good because of its distinctive institutions and freedoms) can be seen in the ideas behind Reconstruction and the Philippine-American war ("To seek another’s profit / And work another’s gain / Take up the White Man’s burden...").
During the period of what was known as Radical Reconstruction, the South debuted its first state-funded integrated public school, saw African American participation in public office rise, and passed laws against racial discrimination in public accommodations.
For information on the Philippine-American War, American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny, please refer to the three links below.
Both poems do acknowledge the consequences of imperialism. For example, Hughes's poem highlights the divide between two different worldviews. The speaker's white teacher tells the speaker (a black student) to write in his authentic voice. However, the speaker questions what his authentic voice really is; he wonders whether race impacts personal preferences and whether it colors one's perception about life. Here, the conquered (speaker of the poem) questions his place within a society dominated by the progeny of past imperialists. ("It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me / at twenty-two, my age.")
Meanwhile, Kipling acknowledges that conquered natives will not submit readily to their oppression ("Your new-caught, sullen peoples, / Half devil and half child..."). So, both poems acknowledge that there are very real consequences to imperialism. First, it is unlikely that the conquered will thank their new masters for their inferior status in society. Second, the question of identity comes into play: how will the conquered align their native assumptions with the unfamiliar and offensive presuppositions of their imperial masters?
Next, we can discuss how Hughes's poem explores the question of personal identity, an element that is missing from Kipling's poem. First, Hughes humanizes the speaker by giving us some important information about him. Here, we can include information from the poem to support this statement. For example, the speaker is twenty-two; he was born in Winston-Salem, etc. The speaker comes to an interesting conclusion about life: both white and black people can like the same things even though they don't belong to the same race. Second, we can make the point that Hughes's poem acknowledges the humanity that connects all races ("You are white— / yet a part of me, as I am a part of you"). Third, Hughes makes the point that this belief about shared humanity is also very American in nature:
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
Although both poems acknowledge the validity of racial tensions, Hughes's poem is a departure from Kipling's in that the former acknowledges the shared humanity between the races while the latter views the imperial force as a superior civilizing power.
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