Introduction
Since ancient times, the word artist has acquired different connotations. It has been quite an inquiry to define it, and even with the most meticulous meanings, the word still has kept its mysterious singularity to define the whole purpose of a man. Being an artist is more than just a philosophy, and the concept belongs to a vast range of abilities of self expression. It has been said, that one of the most common abilities is that of being able to reinterpret experiences, societal pressures, adversities during childhood, successes and failures, and translate them into a creative form attractive to others (Nguyen, 2011). This specific ability is directly associated with the uniqueness the artist will start to develop during his career, and also constitute an important part in their formation as a person as they will be able to open and expose themselves into the fierce criticism or affable acceptance of the rest of the world.
Two distinctive artists that have been characterized by their geniality and endowment of expressing their beliefs against the rules of morality and concealment of the puritan society are Langston Hughes and Tennessee Williams. Hughes, born in February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, was among the most principal and controversial writers in segregated America. As a child, he struggle with the separation of his parents, marked by constant moving and crisscrossing between the two. However, as the great artist he is, he took the difficult circumstances he lived and the cruelty he experienced during his life and transformed it into the source for his ingenuity. In addition, the historical context in which the artist grew up was filled with economic tribulations, segregation against black, war, and ...
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... Williams suffered of abuses from his fathers, who became increasingly aggressive as he and his sister grew older. In addition, his sister who was his best friend was lobotomized by his parents due to her constant mental breakdowns. This happening affected Williams profoundly because the person he loved so much would never be the same again. Afterwards, the artist became addicted to alcohol and barbiturates, and suffered continues breakdowns. At one point in his life, he thought he had breast cancer and had a surgery. However, the surgery proved that it wasn't breast cancer but a lump due to his heavy drinking. To complete his misery, the love of his life Frank Merlo died of cancer at an early age, leaving him an emptiness he would never be able to fill again. There was no doubt that his life was falling apart, but his writing never stopped to be grandiose.
James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, to James Nathaniel Hughes, a lawyer and businessman, and Carrie Mercer (Langston) Hughes, a teacher. The couple separated shortly thereafter. James Hughes was, by his son’s account, a cold man who hated blacks (and hated himself for being one), feeling that most of them deserved their ill fortune because of what he considered their ignorance and laziness. Langston’s youthful visits to him there, although sometimes for extended periods, were strained and painful. He attended Columbia University in 1921-22, and when he died he, left everything to three elderly women who had cared for him in his last illness, and Langston was not even mentioned in his will.
Langston Hughes was not afraid to express his blackness through his writing. A reader can see in Hughes’ essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,Hughes expresses his dismay on how if a poet does not want to identify as a negro poet, then
As a poet who paved the way for African American artists to flourish in a white dominated world, Langston Hughes changed the face of writers during the era of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes is the descendant of a mixed race and background, but he is considered the father of the “New Negro Movement.” His most noted piece of literature, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” which was written in 1926, still applies to the youth and elderly of Blacks in America. As a young black woman in America’s 21st century, the realization has been made that not many things have changed in regards to the plight of the “Negro” in America. William Pickens said, “The new Negro is not really new; he is the same Negro under new conditions and subjected to new demands” (79). This quote claims that the Negro is neither new nor old but constantly evolving based upon new situations and predicaments. “The Negro Artists and the Racial Mountain” supports the statement that Black Americans are continuously scrutinized for assimilating into Western culture but are praised for embracing Pan-Africanism.
Throughout our lives, we often deal with boundaries created by society and ourselves. Racism and prejudices have plagued our society for years. There have been many people using many methods techniques in the fight against racism. One man used his art and the power of words to bring forth the issues of injustice suffered in America, he was Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was a Negro Writer, born at the turn of the century in 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His ancestry included three major race groups, however, he lived and was identified as a Negro or Colored (Hughes referred to himself as "colored" or "Negro," because those were the terms used to refer to African-Americans in this era). He spent most of his early years with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas due to the separation of his mother and father. In 1908 when Langston was ready to start school, his mother was told that he could not attend a nearby because her son was black. The school was located in Topeka, Kansas and was mostly white. Langston’s mother, Carrie, challenged and fought the school over their decision. She won her fight and Langston was finally admitted to the school. By the time he was fourteen, he had lived in Joplin, Buffalo, Cleveland, Lawrence, Kansas, Mexico City, Topeka, Kansas, Colorado Springs, Kansas City, and Lincoln, Illinois. Even though he moved often during his life there are people that Langston was greatly influenced by, his grandmother implanted a sense of dedication, she told him wonderful stories about Frederick Douglas and Sojourner Truth and once took him to hear Booker T. Washington. Shortly after his thirteenth birthday, his grandmother died and Langston moved in with James and Mary Reed for the next two years, they were not related but...
Black poetry is poetry that (1) is grounded in the black experience; (2) utilizes black music as a structural or emulative model; and (3) "consciously" transforms the prevailing standards of poetry through and inconoclastic and innovative use of language.
Poetry was a big part of the Harlem Renaissance, especially black poetry. Poetry helped people get their emotions out and provided an outlet for many new and old African-Americans, and for Africans just arriving in the United States in Harlem. The Renaissance was filled with great poets including the great Langston Hughes. Hughes is the author of his own book The Weary Blues and the writer of the poems Not without Laughter and The Way of the White Folks. He believed in the beauty of the Africans, as stated on Shmoop “Hughes knew that black was beautiful.” He won the Harlem gold medal for literature for his literary work and helped shape the artists of the Harlem Renaissances contributions to the movement. Hughes was also the founder of three theaters meant as outlets for black actors and dramatists. The names of these theaters are the New Negro Theater, Langston Hughes Preforming Arts, and Black Arts (“Langston Hughes Founded Theaters”). Langston Hughes was a very popular and
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
When reading the literature of Langston Hughes, I cant help but feeling energetically charged and inspired. Equality, freedom, empowerment, renaissance, justice and perseverance, are just a taste of the subject matter Hughes offers. He amplifies his voice and beliefs through his works which are firmly rooted in race pride and race feeling. Hughes committed himself both to writing and to writing mainly about African Americans. His early love for the “wonderful world of books” was sparked by loneliness and parental neglect. He would soon lose himself in the works of Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence, Carl Sandburg and other literary greats which would lead to enhancing his ever so growing style and grace of oeuvre. Such talent, character, and willpower could only come from one’s life experiences. Hughes had allot to owe to influences such as his grandmother and great uncle John Mercer Langston - a famous African American abolitionist. These influential individuals helped mold Hughes, and their affect shines brightly through his literary works of art.
The contradiction of being both black and American was a great one for Hughes. Although this disparity was troublesome, his situation as such granted him an almost begged status; due to his place as a “black American” poet, his work was all the more accessible. Hughes’ black experience was sensationalized. Using his “black experience” as a façade, however, Hughes was able to obscure his own torments and insecurities regarding his ambiguous sexuality, his parents and their relationship, and his status as a public figure.
Like most, the stories we hear as children leave lasting impacts in our heads and stay with us for lifetimes. Hughes was greatly influenced by the stories told by his grandmother as they instilled a sense of racial pride that would become a recurring theme in his works as well as become a staple in the Harlem Renaissance movement. During Hughes’ prominence in the 20’s, America was as prejudiced as ever and the African-American sense of pride and identity throughout the U.S. was at an all time low. Hughes took note of this and made it a common theme to put “the everyday black man” in most of his stories as well as using traditional “negro dialect” to better represent his African-American brethren. Also, at this time Hughes had major disagreements with members of the black middle class, such as W.E.B. DuBois for trying to assimilate and promote more european values and culture, whereas Hughes believed in holding fast to the traditions of the African-American people and avoid having their heritage be whitewashed by black intellectuals.
During the 1920's and 30’s, America went through a period of astonishing artistic creativity, the majority of which was concentrated in one neighborhood of New York City, Harlem. The creators of this period of growth in the arts were African-American writers and other artists. Langston Hughes is considered to be one of the most influential writers of the period know as the Harlem Renaissance. With the use of blues and jazz Hughes managed to express a range of different themes all revolving around the Negro. He played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, helping to create and express black culture. He also wrote of political views and ideas, racial inequality and his opinion on religion. I believe that Langston Hughes’ poetry helps to capture the era know as the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes was probably the most well-known literary force during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first known black artists to stress a need for his contemporaries to embrace the black jazz culture of the 1920s, as well as the cultural roots in Africa and not-so-distant memory of enslavement in the United States. In formal aspects, Hughes was innovative in that other writers of the Harlem Renaissance stuck with existing literary conventions, while Hughes wrote several poems and stories inspired by the improvised, oral traditions of black culture (Baym, 2221). Proud of his cultural identity, but saddened and angry about racial injustice, the content of much of Hughes’ work is filled with conflict between simply doing as one is told as a black member of society and standing up for injustice and being proud of one’s identity. This relates to a common theme in many of Hughes’ poems: that dignity is something that has to be fought for by those who are held back by segregation, poverty, and racial bigotry.
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 with the Harlem Renaissance, her works are, to say the least are in contrast to Hughes’s work. I reason that the different styles of writing and thinking, that were contributed to the Harlem Renaissance is in regards to both author’s upbringing/childhood experiences. The two literary compositions that I will be reviewing are I, Too by Langston Hughes, (The Norton Anthology
For anyone at least 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 not afraid to experiment, to mix forms, and to create fascinating interlacements of various manifestations of art. One could say that his poem “Life is Fine” is not very well-known, especially compared to the amount of recognition gotten by some of his other works. However, it seems undoubtedly intriguing to investigate
Art is life in motion. Art is everywhere in life and influences peoples’ daily lives. Art is an expression of a person's interior thought, a revelation of the imaginative process. An individual can deem art in many diverse ways, such as it helping people to convey their sentiments and bringing about self-assurance. Art can take several forms, which can be through video games, music, text, painting, and other works of fine art. Therefore, for one to become a great artist, one needs a sense of empathy and the vivid knowledge to compose excelling and great art. Empathy is necessary for a sensible, imaginative, and expressive process to produce art and knowledge helps to improve the artistic and imaginative process.