Reoccurring Themes in the Work of Langston Hughes Essay

This paper examines the perspective of Langston Hughes and how his style of writing is. It looks at how several interrelated themes run through the poetry of Langston Hughes, all of which have to do with being black in America and surviving in spite of immense difficulties. Langston Hughes is one of the most influential writers because his style of work not only captured the situation of African Americans; it also grabbed the attention of other races with the use of literary elements and other stylistic qualities. Langston Hughes became well known for his way of interpreting music into his work of writing, which readers love and enjoy today.

     Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes creative intellect was influenced by his life in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Hughes had a very strong sense of racial pride. Through his works he promoted racial equality and celebrated the African American culture. It was in Lincoln, Illinois that Hughes started to write his poetry. In November 1924, he moved to Washington D.C. where he published his first book of poetry. Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America. Langston is also known for his commitment to jazz. Hughes refused to distinguish between his personal and common understandings of black America. He

The well known poet Langston Hughes was an inspiring character during the Harlem Renaissance to provide a push for the black communities to fight for the rights they deserved. Hughes wrote his poetry to deliver important messages and provide support to the movements. When he was at a young age a teacher introduced him to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and they inspired him to start his own. Being a “darker brother,” as he called blacks, he experienced and wanted his rights, and that inspired him. Although literary critics felt that Langston Hughes portrayed an unattractive view of black life, the poems demonstrate reality. Hughes used the Blues and Jazz to add effect to his work as well as his extravagant word use and literary

Langston Hughes was the leading voice of African American people in his time, speaking through his poetry to represent blacks. His Influence through his poems are seen widely not just by blacks but by those who enjoy poetry in other races and social classes. Hughes poems, Harlem, The Negro speaks of rivers, Theme for English B, and Negro are great examples of his output for the racial inequality between the blacks and whites. The relationship between whites and blacks are rooted in America's history for the good and the bad. Hughes poems bring the history at large and present them in a proud manner. The injustice that blacks face because of their history of once being in bondage is something they are constantly reminded and ridiculed for but must overcome and bring to light that the thoughts of slavery and inequality will be a lesson and something to remember for a different future where that kind of prejudice is not found so widely.

Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the “most renowned African American poet of the 20th century” (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing was an attempt to “explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America” (Daniel 760). To fulfill this task, he wrote 15 volumes of poetry, six novels, three books, 11 plays, and a variety of non-fiction work (Daniel 760). He also edited over 50 books in his time (McKay).

Hughes also takes the view of culture but he examines it from the view of blacks that are not stuck in the ghetto but have stable backgrounds. Hughes takes the view that blacks are actually hindering themselves. He says that there is a huge obstacle standing in the way of every black person. He actually makes a reference about artist but it can be viewed as any black person. He says the obstacle is, “this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.” (Hughes, Langston) His example is a poet. This poet subconsciously wants to be white because he feels it will make him a better poet. This poet comes from a strong background in the middle class. According to Hughes, they attend church; the father has a steady job; the mother works on occasion; and the children attend mixed schools. However, the problem comes with how the parents treat their children. The mother says things like, “Don’t be like niggers” when the children are bad. In turn the father says things like, “Look how well a white man does things.” So in this home and many others, black is not praised or celebrated it is taught to be ashamed of. They are taught to want to be white. It is staggering what blacks do to themselves because of this. Fist Hughes says the more predominant don’t

Foremost, Langston Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to two black parents. They later divorced which caused Hughes to move around a lot and be raised by his grandmother. Through his friends and schoolmates, Hughes was “introduced to leftist literature and ideology” (Gale Group), as they associated with socialism. This marked the beginning of Hughes avid love of reading and literature. He was influenced by The Souls of Black Folk which which was a classic novel about racism that inspired his writing and poems about the “experiences, attitudes, and language of everyday black Americans” (Gale Group). Hughes experienced racism first hand through his father, as he considered all other races inferior to whites, further alienating Hughes from him. At 17, he wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” which celebrated the voice and soul of the black community in a time of great hatred, helping to unite and inspire blacks during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time of cultural rebirth and a movement during the 1920s and 1930s in America in which black artists, activists, musicians, and writers “found new ways to explore and celebrate the black experience” (Gale Group) in the midst of white oppression. Hughes’ poetry gave a voice and inspiration for many black people across America as he detailed their struggles and pain related to the racial prejudice shown against them. The way Hughes wrote, threading in “structures and rhythms of jazz music” (Gale Group), his

Langston Hughes is one the most renowned and respected authors of twentieth century America not simply one of the most respected African-American authors, though he is certainly this as well, but one of the most respected authors of the period overall. A large part of the respect and admiration that the man and his work have garnered is due to the richness an complexity of Hughes' writing, both his poetry and his prose and even his non-fictions. In almost all of his texts, Hughes manages at once to develop and explore the many intricacies and interactions of the human condition and specifically of the experience growing up and living as a black individual in a white-dominated and explicitly anti-Black society while at the same time, while at the same time rendering his human characters and their emotions in a simple, straightforward, and immensely accessible fashion. Reading the complexity behind the surface simplicity of his works is at once enjoyable and edifying.

Langston Hughes’ life influenced many of his own works, such as The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Let America Be America Again, and that ultimately contributed to the presence of recognized black literature. As a child, he lived a neglected life with his grandmother, but soon after she passed away, his love for poetry grew. Publishing his first poem at age 18, he wanted to go to college and become a writer. He left university and the country for a while, but returned to America and met many significant authors, who gave him a gateway to get more of his works published. Most importantly, he helped shape a new era. As the end of his life dwindled down, his legacy doesn’t.

Langston Hughes is a famous poet known mostly for his contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote many inspirational poems that are still read and used for educational purposes. Many of his poems were inspired by his life and his story. One of his many poems entitled “Theme for English B” talks about how his teacher instructed him to write a page about himself and it will be true. In a “Theme for English B”, Hughes uses tone, and characterization to display a relationship between race and writing.

“The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the Afro-American came of age; he became self-assertive and racially conscious… he proclaimed himself to be a man and deserving respect. Those Afro-Americans who were part of that time period saw themselves as principals in that moment of transformation from old to new” (Huggins 3). African Americans migrated to the North in great numbers to seek better lives than in the South as the northern economy was booming and industrial jobs were numerous. This movement brought new ideas and talents that shifted the culture forever. Black writers, such as Langston Hughes, used their work to claim a place for themselves and to demand self-respect in society. Poems that Langston Hughes wrote captured the essence of the complexity of a life that mixes joy and frustration of black American life through the incorporation of jazz and blues in order to examine the paradox of being black in mostly white America, the land of the not quite free.

This paper will be about Langston Hughes and will discuss the topics hughes felt were important and his poems will be broken down to show you there was and is a deeper meaning behind everything. and all of his poems can be interpreted in many ways and can even be analyzed and can be relatable to all races.

Langston Hughes was one of the first African Americans to earn a living entirely by writing. In 1924, Langston Hughes returned to Washington D.C. with expectations of going back to college. With all the racial tension in society at that time made it hard for him to find work. Langston Hughes struggled with the segregation and racial injustices in American. Langston Hughes wrote the book “The Weary Blues,” which expressed his disappointments and hard times in American, this book also won first prize in National Urban League magazine. Langston Hughes wanted to find a way to integrate black culture into his writing style. During his down time, Langston Hughes listened and remembered the great jazz and blues music in Harlem. Jazz, rhythm, blues, and racism inspired Langston Hughes writing style. Hughes stranded in Genoa, Italy and trying to catch several rides back to the U.S., Hughes was upset when he watched the white men easily get rides. Hughes furious over the injustice that was going on right in front of him, wrote the poem “I’

Only a half of century after the abolition of slavery, the African Americans began the movement of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920‘s. Suppressed by whites, segregation, second-class citizen ship and a poor education Langston Hughes became one of the most inspirational poets of his time. Langston Hughes let the world know of his existence through his poetry. Ignited with passion, pride and knowledge of the journey through slavery and there after, Hughes used his poetry to paint the world through the eyes, ears and voice of an African American. His magnificent use of similes, metaphors, symbolism and imagery intensify just that. In Hughes poems “Harlem - A Dream Deferred” and “ I, Too” his use of these literary devices brings his poetry to life.

Langston Hughes is by fare the most important writers of the Harlem Renaissance which was the artistic movement of African Americans in the 1920's that celebrated African American life and culture in New York. Hughes's creative genius was influenced by his life in New York City's Harlem, a primarily African American neighborhood. Like other active members of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes had a strong sense of racial pride and through his poetry, novels, plays, essays, and children's books; he promoted equality, condemned racism and injustice, and celebrated African American culture. Most of his poems were influential during this time period.in this essay, I will be talking about five of Langton Hughes famous poems that speak of race, segregation and the effects it has on African Americans. “Theme for English B”, “The Negro speaks of river”, “I Too”, "I Look at the World", and “ Merry- Go- Round.” In his poetry Langston Hughes uses jazz and Black folk rhythms in his work, ignoring classical forms in favor of the oral and improvisational traditions of the Black culture. To fully understand the poems of Langston Hughes, you must first understand his background. As an black African American and arguable the best writer during the Harlem renaissance, who wrote about the ignorance of race and segregation.