Before the Civil Rights movement, African Americans were severely discriminated against by the Caucasian community. African Americans faced segregation and were limited to the opportunities that were often granted to Caucasians. Many leaders responded to this unethical treatment through music, writing, speeches, etc. to express their need for social reform. Skilled poet and social activist, Langston Hughes, acknowledged this issue through his poem, “HARLEM”, by voicing his perspective of dreams and how crucial they are, not only to Caucasians, but the African American community itself. Beginning in 1920, the Harlem Renaissance highlighted the artistic aspects of African American culture. Hughes, a key figure of this movement, published many …show more content…
This creates a dramatic effect by leaving the reader with a lasting impression that enables a wide variety of interpretations. However, it can be reasonably inferred that by comparing a deferred dream to an explosion, the author is suggesting that the frustration and broken hopes of the African American community can lead to intense outcomes, only to be predicted by the reader. Unlike the emotional aspect of his writing, Hughes’ usage of logistics and credibility relate to the implied understanding of the historical context of the poem. The title, “HARLEM”, evokes both an emotional and logical appeal by connecting the reader to where the poem takes place. By naming his poem after the neighborhood where the Harlem Renaissance took place, he provides historical context to the reader by establishing the overall background of the text. Hughes’ sense of credibility that is provided to the reader stems from his personal experiences as a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Through writing this poem, he establishes reliability by sharing his perspective of the discrimination endured and the inability of African Americans to carry out their …show more content…
By addressing the struggles of the African American community during this time, the author was able to express his desire for the change of racial inequality through a tone that can be described as both frustration and disappointment. Hughes illustrates this tone of voice by using vivid imagery to describe the potential outcomes of deferred dreams. When the author states, “Does it dry up like a rain in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? (Hughes lines 2-5),” he uses unpleasant descriptions to bring emphasis to his sense of frustration. As the poem continues, the author portrays a tone of urgency through the repeating of rhetorical questions. Hughes states, “Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like syrupy sweet? (Hughes lines 6-8).” The use of repetition when asking rhetorical questions conveys the author’s demand for action to be taken by emphasizing the cruciality of addressing the question, “What happens to a dream deferred? Hughes line
difference just like Langston Hughes. He changed the way people look at African Americans because of the impact he created through his perseverance, influence of his language and style, and lastly the actions done by African American people who were impacted. Known
Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902. He then grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and Lincoln, Illinois, and later went to high school in Cleveland, Ohio. All the places that Hughes moved to comprised of a small community of blacks who he was always attached to from a young age. He did come from a distinguished family, however, his parents divorced when he was young and he lived with his mother in near poverty. In 1921 his father helped him go to Columbia University in New York. Soon
Harlem Renaissance & Hughes The cultural, social, and artistic eruption which took place from 1917 to 1935 in Harlem, came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance. In Nathan Huggins book “Harlem Renaissance”, he explains how during this time Harlem, which is a district of Manhattan attracted African-American writers, musicians, poets, photographers, and many other types of artists (21). Many of the African-Americans who made the journey to the Harlem did so from the southern states. During this
In Langston Hughes poems, there are different images that can be extracted but for the purpose of this essay, my emphasis will focus on the three images extracted from two poems “Harlem” and “The Negro speaks of rivers” as we studied in this term. Those three major images express the feeling of frustration, identity and courage. In the two poems “Harlem” and “The Negro speaks of rivers” the reader can easily see all the three images mentioned above. This research paper explores the expression of
The Harlem Renaissance brought about many great changes. It was a time for expressing the African-American culture. Many famous people began their writing or gained their recognition during this time. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Many things came about during the Harlem Renaissance; things such as jazz and blues, poetry, dance, and musical theater. The African-American way of life became the “thing.” Many white people came to discover this newest art, dancing, music
Langston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (“Langston Hughes” 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (“Langston Hughes” 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with black oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’
Langston Hughes’ Role in the Harlem Renaissance James Nathaniel Langston Hughes has a very significant role in the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance, also called the New Negro Movement, was a literary movement of the African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 and he is not only a poet, but he is also a social activist, playwright, and novelist. His works are mainly influenced by his life in Harlem and he is often considered as the “Poem Laureate
During the Harlem Renaissance, African-Americans faced the problem of segregation, but found a way to survive it. The Harlem Renaissance began in the 1920s and was a period of time where African-Americans migrated to Harlem in New York City to pursue their careers. One man who did this was Langston Hughes, a writer in his twenties who wrote jazz poetry. Also, there was Countee Cullen, another young writer who went to Harvard for a year. “I, Too”, by Langston Hughes, uses perspective and “Tableau”
“Lansgton Hughes and Jesse B. Semple” In the early 1940s an African American writer by the name of Langston Hughes, who flourished during the Harlem Renaissance in New York, had established a character in his short story writings named Jesse B. Semple. Through these short stories he used this character to represent the black man of his times. However the question remains, is Jesse B. Semple an accurate representation of the black man of 1940s? This question can best be answered by looking at the
Throughout this paper I will discuss ways in which the life of Langston Hughes influenced his writing style and use of symbolism in his poetry, including “Mother to Son” and “Cross.” Langston Hughes enjoys providing an abundance of “twoness” and or duality into his poems. While writing Hughes captures the art and culture of African Americans, race and segregation related issues. Also including, imagery, allusions, ambiguity, irony and a seperation of the speaker and poet. Through Langston's poems
In 1902, Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri to his parents who eventually divorced and caused Hughes to live with his grandmother. His grandmother lived in Lawrence, Kansas, where he mainly grew up. Langston’s grandmother shared many stories with him as a young boy, about his family in the slavery days and how they had to fight for their freedom and how to end slavery. His grandmother introduced him to the "Bible" and "Crisis," the magazine. From stories told by his grandmother, it filled
Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was one of the first black men to express the spirit of blues and jazz into words. An African American Hughes became a well known poet, novelist, journalist, and playwright. Because his father emigrated to Mexico and his mother was often away, Hughes was brought up in Lawrence, Kansas, by his grandmother Mary Langston. Her second husband (Hughes's grandfather) was a fierce abolitionist. She helped Hughes to see the cause of social justice. As a lonely
DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE: HUGHES & HURTSON Deshawntray Coleman Rochester College Different approaches to the Harlem Renaissance When looking at the Harlem Renaissance, readers can expect to discover many artists that pushed the exposure of Jazz, Blues, and African American literature to the American mainstream during the 1920’s – 1930’s. Langston Hughes is associated with the Harlem Renaissance for his literary works and activism. Zora Neale Hurtson, was also a writer associated
remotely familiar with the poetry of Langston Hughes, no matter how deep their ability to understand and analyze the works of art is, it is usually evident that Hughes’s poems are not quite like all the other poetry classics. In general, this has to do with a couple of factors that have influenced the becoming of Hughes as a writer. Because of his specific cultural and ethnic background, upbringing, and social movements that were actual during his time, Langston Hughes was one of the authors who were
The Harlem Renaissance Poets consist of: James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Jean (Eugene) Toomer, Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, Robert Hayden, and Gwendolyn Brooks. These eight poets contributed to modern day poetry in three ways. One: they all wrote marvelous poems that inspired our poets of modern times. Two: they contributed to literature to let us know what went on in there times, and how much we now have changed. And last but not least they all have written poems that people