Langston Hughes Essay

The well known poet Langston Hughes was an inspiring character during the Harlem Renaissance to provide a push for the black communities to fight for the rights they deserved. Hughes wrote his poetry to deliver important messages and provide support to the movements. When he was at a young age a teacher introduced him to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and they inspired him to start his own. Being a “darker brother,” as he called blacks, he experienced and wanted his rights, and that inspired him. Although literary critics felt that Langston Hughes portrayed an unattractive view of black life, the poems demonstrate reality. Hughes used the Blues and Jazz to add effect to his work as well as his extravagant word use and literary

Hughes was a great writer with much diversity in his types of writings. His poetry was a way for us to see a picture of urban life during the Harlem Renaissance, the habits, attitudes, and feelings of his oppressed people. These poems did more than reveal the pain of poverty, it also illustrated racial pride and dignity. “His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience” (Wikipedia, Langston Hughes). Hughes was not ashamed of his heritage and his main theme, “black is beautiful,” was expressed and shared to the world through his poetry. During the literary movement, music was central to the cultural movement of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a main feature of Hughes’s poetry. He had an important technical influence by his emphasis on folk, jazz, and blues rhythms as the basis of his poetry of racial pride. Hughes used this unique style of writing because it was important to him to have the readers feel and experience what they were reading, “to recognize the covert rhetoric in lyric means to appreciate the overlap between emotive and discursive poetry. Rooted in song, the lyric reestablishes the ritual of human communion” (Miller 52).

Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the “most renowned African American poet of the 20th century” (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing was an attempt to “explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America” (Daniel 760). To fulfill this task, he wrote 15 volumes of poetry, six novels, three books, 11 plays, and a variety of non-fiction work (Daniel 760). He also edited over 50 books in his time (McKay).

Hughes's poem builds on top of Whitman’s poem in more ways than one. Every single person with their described job in Whitman’s poem was said to have been sung loud and strong as to what they were doing when working, meaning that they took pride in how they worked and what kind of work they did. With how there's so many types of people and jobs being talked about in Whitman’s poem, you would think it would include the lives of blacks and how they have dealt with all the racism and stuff at the time (later on too). Hughes’s poem is a type of add-on to Whitman’s poem in the way of including the whole of black people into the mix, with many lines in the poem stating things of which overall say that even if you’re black you should still be allowed to partake in things and be in an area without any prejudice towards your skin color.

Langston Hughes clearly connects with a wide range of audiences through the simplicity that surrounds his poetry. The beauty of this manner in which he wrote his poetry, is that it grasp people by illustrating his narratives of the common lifestyles experienced by the current American generation. His art form expresses certain questionable ideologies of life and exposes to the audience what it takes to fully comprehend what being an American truly means. Each individual poem describes and illustrates the strength and hardships the African American community was experiencing. Through his literature art form of poetry, Hughes was able to convey the common assertions of

Langston Hughes was born on February 2, 1902 in Joplin Missouri, and died on May 22, 1967 in New York, New York. Hughes' African American themes helped to contribute to the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, where he was a leader. He attended Columbia University and Lincoln University, published his first poem in 1921 and his first book in 1926. Hughes was a poet, playwright, novelist, and more.

The poem ?The Negro Speaks of Rivers? by Langston Hughes contains many symbolic meanings about the identity of African Americans. Throughout the poem Hughes uses metaphorical statements to suggest to the reader what the soul of the African American has been through. The symbols of the old rivers from which the African American ideal has risen can be interpreted in many different ways. They represent the birth and growth of the African American culture, and some of the most significant moments of their past. The words written in this poem represent the pride and knowledge of a group of outstanding people.

Langston Hughes uses both Harlem and The Negro Speaks of Rivers to evoke responses from his readers. Both of these poems are profound in and of themselves when simply read given the political and racial tensions at the time, but when read and digested, they can speak to any race, creed, or color. The use of figurative language in both of these poems is what makes them so easy to identify with. He uses blood, deep rivers, rotten meat, and other nouns to allow the reader to process what each of his or her own rotten meat or deep river is. Interestingly enough, when read passionately, the reader could get lost in his or her own story, but it is of upmost importance to remember that Hughes is chronicling the story of African American plight in such a way that allows anyone to identify with it. It is through this identification that allows anyone to develop pride and sensitivity for Hughes and his people.

A difference in the two poets definitely comes into play when we look at of the speakers in these poems. Hughes’ persona is that of a black male looking back on how the black race was treated badly, but he is expressing the beauty in their struggle. Hughes talks about why black Americans should achieve their goals, “On the Cultural Achievements of African Americans”

In Langston Hughes' poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", he examines some of the roles that blacks have played throughout history. Ultimately, the poem asserts that in every one of these aspects the black people have been exploited and made to suffer, mostly at the hands of white people. The poem is written entirely in first person, so there is a very personal tone, even though the speaker symbolizes the entire black race. The examples of each role cited in the poem are very specific, but they allude to greater indignities, relying on the readers' general knowledge of world history. To convey the injustice that has taken place, Hughes utilizes the symbolism of the

Hughes’s first poem is “Open Letter to the South”. He starts off with saying “White workers of the South” by this he is modeling his poem after a letter and he is addressing whom his audience is. At the begging of the next stanza, he addresses himself as a black worker that is extremely hard working. As the poem progresses he hits

James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin Missouri to mother Carie Langston and father James Hughes. Shortly following his birth, Hughes’ parents divorced which resulted in him being raised “mainly by his mother, his maternal grandmother and a childless couple named Reed.” (“Langston Hughes”) Hughes moved frequently throughout his childhood, traveling to and living in various states before graduating from high school in Cleveland Ohio. Shortly after graduating from high school, Hughes took a trip to Mexico to see his father who moved there after he divorced his wife. While riding on a train on the way to see his father, Hughes crossed over the Mississippi river and received the inspiration for his first

He did this by speaking of the inequalities that blacks face in the United States. Saying things like, “I am the only colored student in my class”, and comparing it to being the black ink on white paper. Hughes speaks in a tone that can be interpreted differently by anyone who reads it. You don’t know whether he is angry or relaxed while speaking. Individuals just have to pay attention to the words used rather than focusing on the tone. It is obvious when reading the poem that the author is pro equality, and is trying to convince readers to have the same

One of his earliest poems, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, was written in 1921, long before Hughes would actually travel the world. However, without knowing the authors background and history, one might think it was written by a wise man of old age. Having only lived in various places in the United States, Hughes wrote this poem of an African American man who has seen the world, full with things many people never get to see, that nourished his soul and formed bonds with humans' deepest roots. The four rivers the narrator is mentioning, the Euphrates, the Congo river, the Nile and the Mississippi river, are all of great importance not only in the lives of all human beings, but slaves in particular.

     Langston Hughes’s writing showcases a variety of themes and moods, and his distinguished career led his biographer, Arnold Rampersad, to describe him as “perhaps the most representative black American writer.” Many of his poems illustrate his role as a spokesman for African American society and the working poor. In others, he relates his ideas on the importance of heritage and the past. Hughes accomplishes this with a straightforward, easily understandable writing style that clearly conveys his thoughts and opinions, although he has frequently been criticized for the slightly negative tone to his works.