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How did langston hughes impact literature
How did langston hughes impact literature
Langston hughes influence on writers
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Langston Hughes- Pessimism Thesis Statement: In the poems “Weary Blues”, “Song for a Dark Girl” and “Harlem” the author Langston Hughes uses the theme of pessimism through the loss of faith, dreams and hope. First, one can look at the theme of pessimism and the correlation to the loss of faith. One can see that in “Song for a Dark Girl” an African American girl is sadden by the loss of her love. For this young and innocent girl to have to lose someone she loved so young. Hughes says, “They hung my black young lover / To a cross roads tree.” (3-4). One can see that the narrator, this young girl has just loss her lover. Her lover got lynched and this causes our reader to have a broken heart. One can see that due to society and racism …show more content…
Hughes wants to know what happens when a dream is put off to be achieved later. Hughes says, “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?” (1-3). If one thinks about it, a raisin was once a grape. Grapes are full of juice while a raisin is dry. Hughes uses a raisin to compare a dream deferred because just like a raisin was once a grape a dream deferred was a dream but now one must wait. Hughes says, “Or fester like a sore---/ And then run?” (4-5). Hughes then compares a dream deferred to a sore. When one thinks of a sore it is something painful. Then Hughes uses “fester” which mean it has pus which is even more painful. Then Hughes ask does the dream run or escape. This can lead one to think does a deferred dream eventually not become important. The loss of a dream or a dream that is put off can be very painful. It can cause one to become hopeless and think that it might not ever happen. One can be lead to thought that since Hughes is an African American he can not achieve his dreams due to the society that holds him back. One can see all throughout the poem Hughes uses words that perfectly describe a deferred or delayed dream. Hughes uses words like “fester”, “explode”, “sugar over”, “dry up” and “stink”. One can see that all the words describe a dream deferred in a negative and violent manner. One can see that the loss of dream can be painful and sad. One
Langston Hughes was a large influence on the African-American population of America. Some of the ways he did this was how his poetry influenced Martin Luther King Jr. and the Harlem Renaissance. These caused the civil rights movement that resulted in African-Americans getting the rights that they deserved in the United States. Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was young and his grandmother raised him. She got him into literature and education; she was one of the most important influences on him. He moved around a lot when he was young, due to his parents divorce, but remained a good student and graduated high school. After this he traveled the world and worked in different places, all the things he saw in his travels influenced him. In 1924 he settled down in Harlem where he became one of the important figures in the Harlem Renaissance. He enjoyed listening to blues and jazz in clubs while he wrote his poetry. The music that he enjoyed greatly influenced the style and rhythm of his poetry. The poem “Dream Variations” by Hughes is about an average African-American who dreams of a world where African-Americans are not looked at or treated differently and they can rest peacefully. Yet in real life this was not so, black people and white people were not equal. And the world was not as forgiving and nice as in their dream. This poem is a good example of Hughes writing because it is typical of three things. The first is the common theme of the average life of an African-American and their struggles. Secondly, the style of his writing which is based on the rhythm of jazz and blues- he uses a lot of imagery and similes. Lastly, his influences which are his lonely childhood and growing up as an Afric...
Both poems address the fundamental theme of having a dream. This is the ever-occurring dream that is explored during the Harlem renaissance period; the dream of justice that is deferred. However, even in having the same theme, it is explored and is envisioned by the poets in different ways. In “A Dream Deferred”, Hughes describes the negative potentials of a dream that is delayed, warning that this may be dangerous. For example, he describes how ‘[it may] fester like a sore and then run’ which shows that if this dream remains unfulfilled, it will get ‘infected’ and lead to a greater, more destructive problem (4-5). Also, the dream may ‘crust and sugar over, like a syrupy sweet’, which describes how if a dream is forced to sit idle, it will lose its original goal, and harden into destructive thoughts that are crusted over with doubt, anger and hatred. It is even brought to a greater extreme; where Hughes describes how this dream may simply ‘explode’ (11). This shows the catastrophe that may result from the impatience of African-Americans who really want to achieve this dream of justice. On the other hand, in “My Little ...
The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, explained the importance of the woman, light and darkness and strength in the African-American community. Hughes made a very clear and concise statement in focusing on women and the power they hold, light and darkness, and strength. Did his poems properly display the feelings of African-American’s in that time period? It is apparent that Hughes felt a sense of pride in his culture and what they had to endure. After all “Life ain’t been no crystal stair!”(Norton, Line 2, 2028)
Here Hughes is stating very generally and unspecific how he wishes for peace and love. Something that everyone would like but will probably never come true. This statement is an excellent attention getter. It tells about a dream that everyone would like without singling out any group of people to blame for the dream not coming true. Then as the poem goes on he gets more and more specific. Hughes then goes on to dream that everyone “Will know sweet freedoms way,/Where greed no longer sa...
Because of that, his writing seems to manifest a greater meaning. He is part of the African-American race that is expressed in his writing. He writes about how he is currently oppressed, but this does not diminish his hope and will to become the equal man. Because he speaks from the point of view of an oppressed African-American, the poem’s struggles and future changes seem to be of greater importance than they ordinarily would. The point of view of being the oppressed African American is clearly evident in Langston Hughes’s writing.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes is a poem that talks about what happens when we postpones our dreams. The poem is made up of a series of similes and it ends with a metaphor. The objective of the poem is to get us to think about what happens to a dream that is put off, postponed; what happens when we create our very own shelve of dreams? The “dream” refers to a goal in life, not the dreams we have while sleeping, but our deepest desires. There are many ways to understand this poem; it varies from person to person. Some may see this poem as talking about just dreams in general. Others may see it as African-American’s dreams.
With great dreams comes great sacrifices and the ultimate sacrifice is putting that dream on hold. There are many situations that get in the way that force individuals to step away from their dreams and take care of their personal issues. Everyone has the aspiration to fulfill their dreams, but sometimes dreams are set aside for various reason, and some people never return to continue fulfillment. In the poem Harlem, Hughes writes, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” (Hughes). One of the many sacrifices when in search of the American Dream or any dream in general is the potential of it being put off. Like Langston Hughes says, the dream may dry up like a raisin in the sun, but in actuality the dream is never lost, the remnants are still there. It is simply set aside so when the time is right to continue on with the dream the individual can pick up where they left off. As the dream sits on hold it loses its importance, or it dries up. Putting off a dream is one of the biggest sacrifices someone could make no matter the circumstance. People are sacrificing what their lives could have potentially been. Hughes talks about all of the feelings that come with putting off a dream and describes what could potentially happen to a differed dream. Ultimately, the poem is about the sacrifice of giving up this American Dream and choosing a different
Walter Younger is a dreamer. He dreams of owning his own business. When that dream falls apart, Walter's dream can be compared to Langston Hughes's poem "A Dream Deferred." according to arthur, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” Langston Hughes. This quote refers to Walter dream. Like the Raisin in the Sun his dream did dry up. This shows that not all dreams come true. Walter loses all of his mama insurance money and Walter is left with a dried up dream. His deferred dream is like a sore that festers and runs from the infection. Walter's dream can be compared to a sore that festers and runs. He explode from the disappointment of his broken dreams. He drinks heavily and comes home to get verbally
All three of these questions are similes that appeal to the senses (imagery). Hughes uses such vivid language to tell the reader that postponing or pushing away dreams makes them "rot" in the corner, far away from their fulfilled state. To sum up,
What happens to a dream when it suspends in time? Does it stay suspended within a man through his lifetime, dormant, unreachable, and far away? Does its power grow and ultimately force him to act to make it happen sometime in the future-if not in his lifetime then in the future members of his kin? On the other hand, does it eat away at him, crystallizing and internally segmenting his own derived purpose and meaning of life until it is indiscernible from its original state of grandeur and grace? Those are some of the questions that Lorraine Hansberry poses for consideration in her play, A Raisin in the Sun. It is no accident that she chose Langston Hughes' poem as a gateway into the incredible experience of true life, living, dreaming and working for a better tomorrow as enacted and emoted by her play's characters, the Youngers. More specifically, she uses Mama Younger to echo the poem's style of thought-provocation to at least partially surmise an answer of whether dreams deferred do, in fact, dry up, crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet, or sag like a heavy load.
A deferred dream is put on the "back burner of life"(Jemie 219), and it matures to its full potential, and waits when you are "ready to pursue it"(Jemie 219). It is assumed that the deferred event, though later than hoped for, will eventually come true. Deferred dreams are a significant component of "A Raisin in the Sun"; the word "dream" is used a total of fourteen times throughout the play. Mama, from "A Raisin in the Sun", experienced a "dream deferred" (Hughes). Mamas dreams were for the happiness of her children, and a new house.
Harlem has been known, prior to the twentieth century for being an African American community stricken with crime and poverty. Now it is a booming cultural and business center and they are experiencing a social and economic renaissance. The poem mentions in the first line a deferred dream (line 1). A dream that is postponed or delayed, and asks what happens to that dream. There are many things that could become of it, such as it drying up like a raisin in the sun, (lines 2 and 3) as if cramping up to be something dry of the hope and deliciousness it once had. But nevertheless it still exists. It could also mean that the dream is perfected by sitting for a while in a person’s heart like a sun dried raisin is perfected by being in the sun.
Many values Hughes expresses he learn from his father who was influential on him as a child. “Many of Hughes best early poems explored the nature of, and the beauty in, the African element of African American identity (Rossel).” He also lived through some of the most controversial times
Langston Hughes aptly expresses his frustrations in his poem, "Dream Deferred. " As people read this poem, at any time, they can relate to the simple universal message that the poet expressed. Hughes is very expressive in how he feels about dreams he has had and the fact and his frustration at not being able to pursue and/or fulfill those dreams that he is unable to pursue or fulfill those dreams. In his poem, Hughes asks the reader to think by posing the question,?What happens to a dream deferred?(1). This first line opens up a whole world of thought.
When your dream is deferred, it may have started out as a grape but as time went on with all of the neglect and forgetfulness your dream begins to shrivel up like a