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Juke Box Love Song By Langston Hughes: Poem Analysis

1124 Words5 Pages

How do you think your culture affects the way you show your love to others? How do you think this will change if you move to a different part of the country? The famous poet, Langston Hughes, is best known for his jazz poetry during the Harlem Renaissance and accounts for the many poems that relay important and thought provoking messages. Langston Hughes’ poem, “Juke Box Love Song,” is one of those poems that, with further investigation, shows deeper meaning than just a poem about his love for someone. Throughout the poem, Langston Hughes uses metaphors of love to transcribe the city culture of Harlem. In this poem, Hughes explains the ways he will gain the love of his audience, his “sweet brown Harlem girl” by highlighting certain characteristics …show more content…

He says he will “Take the Lenox Avenue buses,/ Taxis, subways,/ And for your love song tone their rumble down” in order to show how the culture of Harlem coincides with his love for the whom the poem is written (Hughes). Lenox Avenue is a main street in Harlem that is also recognized by the name of Malcolm X Boulevard. Lenox Avenue was renamed Malcolm X Boulevard because of the positive presence Malcolm X brought to Harlem. Langston Hughes decided that it was culturally important to include Lenox Avenue into the poem to subtly honor the people that have played an immense role in the Harlem community. The specific section stating, “for your love song tone their rumble down,” furthers the poems connection with Harlem's culture. Langston Hughes writes of taking the busy noise of the moving cars and subways from the city and using it to write a song that will seduce a women. When artists “tune their rumble down,” they change the tone of the music they are working with into a lower tone (Hughes). This process is most common among jazz musicians to achieve a more relaxing melody. During the Harlem Renaissance, jazz music became popular among new and aspiring artists in Harlem and became the musical face of Harlem. Langston Hughes incorporates Harlem’s love of jazz music into the poem to convey the idea that jazz music from Harlem is used to make a love song that will charm its

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