Carly McDonald
4-15-16
Period D
Langston Hughes
Intro
Opening statement
Thesis
Backround Info
Childhood
Adult hood
Entering into poetry
Poems
Poetry history
Poetry themes
Quotes
Conclusion
Langston Hughes is known for being the poet, novelist, and playwright whose African American themes enabled him to be a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance[endnoteRef:1].2 Langston Hughes poems were answers to his father?s strongly negative attitude about African Americans. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, February 1, 1902. His father was a businessman and left to find employment in Cuba and then Mexico[endnoteRef:2]6. Hughes lived with his grandmother in Lawrence,
…show more content…
Langston poetry always showed his strong commitment to social justice in the 1930s, throughout the Great Depression, his political beliefs turned radical[endnoteRef:15]6. He portrayed heavily on his urban experience in work[endnoteRef:16]6. Hughes used element of spirituals for the African Americans church in the finals version of the poem[endnoteRef:17]6 ?When Sue Wears Red?[endnoteRef:18]6. In 1925 Hughes published ?The Weary Blues? in his first experiment in the incorporation of the African American musical Motifs from the blues, jazz, and spirituals into his verse[endnoteRef:19]6. ?The Weary Blues? won first prize in a poetry contest sponsored by the African-American Magazine ?opportunity?[endnoteRef:20]6. It was maybe the first successful attempt to incorporate the blues into American poetry[endnoteRef:21]6. ?To the end of his life, Whitman?s verse poetry could and should be made out of the speech of ordinary Americans?[endnoteRef:22]6. [14: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg5] [15: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg7] [16: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg6] [17: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg7] [18: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnoldpg4] [19: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg4] [20: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg6] [21: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold pg4] [22: Roessel David, Rampersad Arnold
Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Zora Neale Hurston, Marcus Garvey, AaronDouglas PART 2: POETRY IN MOTION: Langston Hughes was a famous Harlem Renaissance poet. Like others, he developed themes that connected the African-American heritage to the present. The website for this activity is: https://studies.tripod.com/ENGL2328/negro_speaks_rivers.htm 1. How old was Langston Hughes when he wrote this poem “Negro Speaks of Rivers” ?
Langston Hughes uses images of oppression to reveal a deeper truth about the way minorities have been treated in America. He uses his poems to bring into question some of Walt Whitman’s poems that indirectly state that all things are great, that all persons are one people in America, which Hughes claims is false because of all the racist views and oppression that people face from the people America. This oppression is then used to keep the minorities from Walt Whitman in his poem, “Song of Myself”, talks about the connection between all people, how we are family and are brothers and sisters who all share common bonds. He says, “ And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,/ And that all the men ever born are also my brothers,
There are so many writers and people who do not write also that look up to him. He accepted the challenge of expressing the heart and soul of African Americans. Keenly aware of racism, Hughes visioned a nation where domestic problems could be realized. Hughes in his poetry, expressed his own reactions to incidents in his life and in the world at large. Langston Hughes left such a lasting impression on poetry , black culture, and the people in his life, that he changed the way they lived with the spirit and soul he put into his
Langston Hughes was much more than any other author or writer. He was a poet, journalist, novelist, and playwright. “In 1954, at a time when even the most worldly Americans were unaware of literature from Africa, and little of it existed in European languages, Hughes began to assemble what would become the first American-published English-language anthology of African writing” (Moore). Langston Hughes became a revolutionary writer for the African people. He began to write about the freedom, liberation, equality and justice for the African-American people.
Writers and poets emerging during that time were recapturing the African-American past. Topics such as southern roots, new urban living, and African heritage were a few of their focuses. Langston Hughes was one of these poets transforming the Black image to the rest of the world. He was largely known for the raw emotions he emitted into his poems. Laced with Jazz and Blues undertones, Hughes’ poems that forced you clearly think about what he said.
The poems “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes, both were written during the 1920s. Something significant happening during this time was the the boom of African American culture which took place mainly around the 20s and 30s in New York. Specifically their literature, art, music and much more. The Harlem Renaissance was going on during the time both poems were written, in fact, they were written because of the renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the movement of African American culture.
In the poem “I, Too”, the author Langston Hughes illustrates the key aspect of racial discrimination faces against the African Americans to further appeals the people to challenge white supremacy. He conveys the idea that black Americans are as important in the society. Frist, Hughes utilizes the shift of tones to indicate the thrive of African American power. In the first stanza, the speaker shows the sense of nation pride through the use of patriotic tone. The first line of the poem, “I, too, sing America” states the speaker’s state of mind.
The culture of most blacks was unwanted during this time. For this reason Hughes desired to make a change and illustrate such cultural identities in his poems. In doing this he caused a shift in ideas among all people. Although the change didn’t happen immediately it did eventually occur. With that said the African American people were given less of an opportunity at jobs, schooling, and most importantly culture.
Langston Hughes poems “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are two poems that have a deeper meaning than a reader may notice. Hughes 's poem “Harlem” incorporates the use of similes to make a reader focus on the point Hughes is trying to make. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes shows how close he was to the rivers on a personal level. With those two main focuses highlighted throughout each poem, it creates an intriguing idea for a reader to comprehend. In these particular poems, Hughes’s use of an allusion, imagery, and symbolism in each poem paints a clear picture of what Hughes wants a reader to realize.
Langston Hughes was an American poem born in the early nineteen hundreds, who became known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He published many poems that brought light to the life of people of color in the twentieth century. There are three poems that the speakers are used to portray three major themes of each poem. Racism, the American Dream, and Hopes are all the major themes that Hughes uses to highlight the average life of a person of color. Theme for English B,” “Harlem,” and “Let America Be America Again” were three of Hughes’s poems that was selected to underline the themes.
Poems can be analyzed in various ways ranging from their complexity to the emotions they convey to readers. The poems, “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes and “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay will be analyzed based on their similarities and differences to name a few. The poems may describe different events; however the overall connection between the two can be identified by readers with deeper reading. Comparisons between the poems may easier to analyze and identify compared to the contrasts based on the reader’s perception. Overall, the concept and much more will reveal how the poems are connected and special in their own way.
Throughout much of his poetry, Langston Hughes wrestles with complex notations of African American dreams, racism, and discrimination during the Harlem Renaissance. Through various poems, Hughes uses rhetorical devices to state his point of view. He tends to use metaphors, similes, imagery, and connotation abundantly to illustrate in what he strongly believes. Discrimination and racism were very popular during the time when Langston Hughes began to develop and publish his poems, so therefore his poems are mostly based on racism and discrimination, and the desire of an African American to live the American dream. Langston Hughes poems served as a voice for all African Americans greatly throughout his living life, and even after his death.
Biography/Context: Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is widely considered as one of the most successful African-American poets of all time. He was also a columnist, playwright, novelist, and social activist for African-American rights. Consequently, Hughes wrote all sorts of literature about 20th century African-Americans living in Harlem--a major black residential within the Manhattan borough of New York City--and soon became an extremely influential figure in the Harlem Renaissance, which was the rebirth movement of African-American culture in the arts during the 1920s. Hughes also had great admiration for music, and was inspired by a variety of genres/musicians such as boogie, Bach, jazz, and blues. His special love for blues music caused
Langston Hughes, an African American poet and civil rights activist during the civil right era in the United States. He wrote many poem in order to express the unjust treatment that people experience in this time. Poems he used that this theme where “The Backlash Blues”, “Let America be America Again”, “You and Your Whole Race”, “I too”, and “Merry go round”. Langston Hughes uses imagery, diction, and repetition in his poems in order to convey his ideas of hardships and difficulty people dealt with at his time.
Original Langston Hughes's poems seem to have a recurring theme of incorporating the essence of dreams in his work. Every dream has some sort of truth within itself. According to the poet, dreams happen either in hopes to fulfill desires or to shield oneself from the world to get that feeling, comfort, and/or protection. All three poems by the same poet, Langston Hughes, have a similar theme of a temporary escape from reality, whether it be living fantasies, achieving goals or simply a source of protection.