Langston Hughes Langston Hughes is considered one of the greatest African American poets to live in the last century. Langston Hughes wrote poems over oppression from 1926-1964, he wrote many poems, jazzes, blues, and spirituals. Langston Hughes uses America as symbolism to indicate that America represents more than just a country and it embodies “The American Dream” and freedom. Langston Hughes was born February 01, 1902 in Joplin, Mississippi. His full name is not known for sure it is either James Langston Hughes or James Mercer Langston. Langston began his career as a writer in high school. He lived in Lawrence, Kansas with his grandmother and following high school he moved to Mexico with his father for a short period of time. Hughes attended …show more content…
The people who built this country aren’t free like they should be because they are still being abused socially and even physically abused. Langston Hughes uses irony repeating the word “America” throughout his poem. He isn’t using it to denote the country itself, he is using the word to represent “The American Dream” and freedom, even though they aren’t truly free in America. In Langston's poem “Let America be America Again” Hughes includes the word America over and over. In restating America, he represents the “American Dream” and freedom to all citizens. Later he explains that everyone in America isn’t free and many are still being oppressed. America doesn’t represent America, it represents the “American Dream” and freedom from oppression which a lot of people don’t have. All together Langston Hughes was an incredible writer, but had limited things that he wrote about other than his own life. Hughes was an extremely intelligent person and was a gifted writer. Hughes had a massive impact on the African American community’s place in modern America (needs more words
Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He started education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He went on to write and publish his first work, a poem called, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in Crisis magazine. He then continued his education at Columbia University in New York in 1921. He then lived for sometime in Paris and after returning to the United States, he worked in Washington D.C. as a busboy. Later after that, Vachel Lindsay discovered Hughes literary talents. Hughes talents did not only exist in poetry, he also expanded his talent into music, play writing, and short stories, for example the “Simple” stories. His most prominent work however was written and published during the Harlem Renaissance a time where many other African-American authors were showcasing their work and being published. Hughes however, stood above the rest with his multiple talents and work which spread across the board. The white society of America at the time of the Harlem Renaissance and years after began to label him as a radical. Hughes remained extremely prolific to the very end of his life. Hughes published over forty books, including a series of children’s books. However, if you add his translations and his many anthologies of black writing, the amount of books he has published would double. He remained a controversial figure, having been considered a dangerous radical in the 1940s. Hughes was now, as he retained his lifelong commitment to racial integration, rejected by 1960s radicals considered to be a part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. However, that would not stop Hughes from being recognized as one of the important black a...
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.
Then the narrator continues to relate nostalgically to the longing for an America built on freedom and equality for all. This could be the dream of the author himself. Wagner states of the author, "Like his first masters Whitman and Sandburg, like his fellow black Toomer, and like so many other American poets of the period, Langston Hughes never tires of proclaiming the absolute necessity for all to do what they can to save the democratic ideal" (371).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Langston Hughes was dedicated to writing about the hardships and problems of African Americans. He wrote for and connected with the average, everyday African American. While he connected majorly with the African Americans, Langston also managed to attract attention from many white people, too. In one of Langston’s poems titled, “Let America Be America Again”, he writes “And yet must be- the land where every man is free / The land that is mine- the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, Me.” (Lines 63-64).
“James Mercer Langston Hughes, known as Langston Hughes was born February 2, 1902 in Missouri, to Carrie Hughes and James Hughes.” Years later his parents separated. Langston’s father moved to Mexico and became very successful, as his for mother, she moved frequently to find better jobs. As a child growing up Langston spent most of his childhood living with his grandmother named Mary Langston in Lawrence, Kansas. Mary Langston was a learned women and a participant in the civil rights Movement. When Langston Hughes was 12 years old his grandmother passed away. Langston then moved in with his mother and stepfather Homer Clark. A few months later, Langston’s mother sent him to live with her mother’s friend “Auntie” and Mr. Reed. In 1915 Langston rejoined his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother in Illinois. In 1916 the family moved again to Cleveland, Ohio.
“America the melting pot.” An expression used by many and often said in a prideful manner. We Americans like to think of ourselves as all accepting and welcoming to everyone, and while that may be true in general, discrimination still exist throughout the country. Fortunately, racism has significantly lowered thanks to the Civil rights movement. Each American can now express who they are without a major fear of contempt or prejudice. Prior to the Civil rights movement, racism ran rampant, particularly in the south. The Harlem renaissance, which took place throughout the 1920’s, helped spur the Civil Rights movement. It was around this time African Americans really started to push themselves forward in society. One successful poet of that time is Langston Hughes. Two of his well-known poems, “Theme for English B”, and “I, too America,” should be recognized for expression of the common thoughts and ideals of African Americans of the time who faced racial segregation. In “Theme for English B”, Hughes shows the reader that despite the lines drawn by society, he is an American and a part of his fellow man although there may be physical differences. “Yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That’s American.” Hughes does a wonderful job in both his pieces depicting the racism of the time. He shows that no matter your background you are equal to those around you.
The nature of an ideology is completely personal; one’s interpretation may vary greatly from another’s interpretation. This is demonstrated in the two poems, “America” by Claude McKay and “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes. Both of these poems emerge from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and though these two poems each describe an ideological viewpoint of America as a place and a concept, the two speakers view the subject differently from one another. Both poets employ similar sound devices, yet the tones and themes vary between the two works.
Langston Hughes was one of the most influential black poets of the twentieth century. He took part in the Harlem Renaissance and taught the world about black life and culture. Langston Hughes was born to James Hughes and Carrie Langston Hughes on February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young and he went to live with his grandmother (“Langston Hughes”). Of the many experiences that influenced young Hughes to write about black life, living with his grandmother, Mary Hughes, had the greatest impact on him. Hughes’s grandmother was the one that instilled in him a sense of black pride in the first place by telling him stories of his ancestors. Hughes’ grandmother had two husbands; the first was part of John Brown’s crew that attacked Harper’s Ferry. Her second husband, Hughes’ grandfather, was an abolitionist. Hearing the stories about his grandfather and his grandmother’s first husband made Hughes want to write about black lif...
“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.
Langston Hughes is considered one of the greatest African American poets to live in the last century. Langston Hughes wrote poems over oppression from 1926-1964, he wrote many poems, jazzes, blues, and spirituals. Langston Hughes uses America as symbolism to represent that America represents more than a country and it represents “The American Dream” and freedom.
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) absorbed America. In doing so, he wrote about many issues critical to his time period, including The Renaissance, The Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, Jazz, Blues, and Spirituality. Just as Hughes absorbed America, America absorbed the black poet in just about the only way its mindset allowed it to: by absorbing a black writer with all of the patronizing self-consciousness that that entails.
Langston Hughes was the second child of schoolteacher Carrie (Caroline) Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes. He grew up in a series of Midwestern small towns in Missouri. Hughes's father left his family and later divorced Carrie, going to Cuba, and then Mexico, seeking to escape the enduring racism in the United States (“Biography of Langston Hughes”). His grandmother raised him until he was thirteen (as his father had left him and his mother at a young age) when he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband. They, later, settled in Cleveland, Ohio.
Langston Hughes is one of the most famous poets of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Mississippi in 1902 and later moved to Ohio where he attended Central High School. When Hughes graduated high school he went to Mexico to visit his father and while crossing the Mississippi River he was inspired to write “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, which was his first published poem when he was eighteen years old. When Hughes returned to the United States in 1924 the Harlem Renaissance was in “full swing”. In 1925 at the age of twenty-three Hughes received an award for his poem “The Weary Blues”, Hughes was famous for incorporating blues and jazz rhymes into his poetry, which is what he did in his poem “The Weary Blues”. Hughes was at a banquet where he received an award for his poem “The Weary Blues” and was asked by a man named Carl Van Vechten if he had enough poems to make a book. Hughes said yes and Van Vechten promised that he would find Hughes ...
In 1920, Langston Hughes became the voice of black America. He was the inspirational voice of the African-Americans, the hope and motivation of many. Langston wrote about freedom of creative expression, about ordinary people leading ordinary lives, politics, America, dreams, equality and inequality. No surprise was created when his poem: “I, Too, Sing America” was about a black man wish and hopes to live a life with equality. This poem conveys the fact that despite the differences of color, all people living in America are Americans and have the right to be treated equally. Langston’s poem “I, Too, Sing America” illustrates the hope of equality, ambition and freedom of an oppressed person.
Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Poems.org stated that Hughes’ parents were divorced when he was young. He was the offspring of two African American parents. His maternal grandmother raised him until he was 13. He then moved in with his mother and her husband in Cleveland. Hughes’ education consisted of studies at Columbia University. Without completing his education there, he left and took up many odd jobs. One such job included travelling abroad as a seaman. In his adult life, he lived in Washington D.C. Hughes’ poetry was influenced by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg. His love of jazz music also shaped some of his poetry (Academy of American Poets). Arnold Rampersad comments that “Hughes's sense of dedication was instilled in him most of all by his maternal grandmother.” Ramperstad also concluded that parental neglect impacted Hughes’ poetry. Langston Hughes died of prostate cancer on May 22, 1967. The glaring inequalities Hughes experienced throughout his lifetime became the subject of many of his poems.