Langston Hughes’s Outlook on the American Dream
The American poet, Langston Hughes, writes poetry primarily focusing on African American civil rights. Coming from a long line of African American activists, he too made it his work and his passion to help the efforts to bring about equality. However, his own past is the reason he pushes these ideas forward with such zeal. Hughes grew up in a time of racial segregation. The nation was divided and Hughes witnessed that first hand. Living in Harlem, where he was able to experience the blossoming of black culture, helped him develop his own writing. The dialect he heard, past experiences and other inspirations he realized throughout his life molded his own opinions and would become an essential
His mother’s side of the family included someone who fought and died alongside of John Brown, the abolitionist, during his famous revolt of 1859 (Rampersad). As an active civil rights protester in his poems, knowing his family routes as well as living in a time and place where racial prejudice was apparent, it must have inspired his beliefs and later his works when approaching the topic. The majority of his most famous works are about the advancement of African American rights and Harlem does not stray from that theme. While being inspired by African Americans, the poem mainly focuses on the efforts of the poor. Specifically, those made by African
He grew up in the city Harlem in New York in which he was surrounded by African American culture. He was also raised during the flourishment of black culture which he used as inspiration for all of his later works. Although black culture was exponentially expanding, especially in Harlem, there was also a great deal of hardships faced by African Americans. In Harlem these included crime, poverty, drugs and other social pressures (Rampersad). Additionally, around the country African Americans were denied the right to vote via segregation and discrimination (Thomas). The lines in his poems reflect those societal truths that many tended to ignore. Langston Hughes' poem, Harlem, showcases his nihilistic outlook on the American dream by highlighting the common struggles of African Americans during the time
Langston Hughes wrote during a very critical time in American History, the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes wrote many poems, but most of his most captivating works centered around women and power that they hold. They also targeted light and darkness and strength. The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, both explain the importance of the woman, light and darkness and strength in the African-American community. They both go about it in different ways.
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.
The civil rights movement may have technically ended in the nineteen sixties, but America is still feeling the adverse effects of this dark time in history today. African Americans were the group of people most affected by the Civil Rights Act and continue to be today. Great pain and suffering, though, usually amounts to great literature. This period in American history was no exception. Langston Hughes was a prolific writer before, during, and after the Civil Rights Act and produced many classic poems for African American literature. Hughes uses theme, point of view, and historical context in his poems “I, Too” and “Theme for English B” to expand the views on African American culture to his audience members.
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.
During the Harlem renaissance African American writers, artist and musicians flocked to Harlem, New York. The popularity of Jazz throughout American culture opened the door for African American voices to be heard. Most notably the voice of Langston Hughes. Since Jazz music was an important part of African American culture at the time, Hughes and others like him adapted the musical genre to create their own, African-American voices that could easily be distinguished from the work of white poets. Many of Hughes' poems sounded similar to the popular jazz and blues songs of the period. In his work he confronted racial stereotypes, protested social conditions, and expanded how African American’s viewed themselves. He was considered a “people’s poet” who tried to reeducate his readers by proving the theory of black people having many artistic talents was actually a reality.
During the early to mid-twentieth century Langston Hughes contributed vastly to a very significant cultural movement later to be named the “Harlem Renaissance.” At the time it was named the “New Negro Movement,” which involved African Americans in creating and expressing their words through literature and art. Hughes contributed in a variety of different aspects including plays, poems, short stories, novels and even jazz. He was even different from other notable black poets at the time in the way that he shared personal experiences rather than the ordinary everyday experiences of black America. His racial pride helped mold American politics and literature into what it is today.
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...
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...
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.
Langston Hughes is a key figure in the vision of the American dream. In his writings, his African-American perspective gives an accurate vision of what the American dream means to a less fortunate minority. His poetry is very loud and emotional in conveying his idea of the African-American dream. Most of his poetry either states how the black man is being suppressed or is a wish, a plea for equality. He does not want the black man to be better than everyone else, but just to be treated equally.
Langston Hughes approaches racism with loud desires being shouted out to end it, but has a brilliant way of showing it a lot more civil-like through his poetry. Through the use of Symbolism, Tone, and Anthropomorphism, we can see how Hughes places his words and writes them to show his true feelings. Overcoming it and enhancing the life of those who are colored, his goal is strived for by every minority. Langston Hughes is incredibly skilled in portraying racism through symbols like “walls” and tone by keeping many parts monotone but shouting three stanzas later. His use of these literary devices help to understand his goal. Establishing equality which is key when it comes to having a unified society.
Langston Hughes, a primary voice of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920's, was known as "The Poet Laureate of Harlem". Hughes had pride in his black heritage, strong political beliefs, and the will to survive in a society where racial equality had to be fought for. Hughes' strength and determination shine through his poetry, he does not hide the fact that he lived with racism, but talks of his strength and to st...
“Harlem” was one of Hughes’s popular poems during the 1950’s. The poem itself is short in length, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. During this time, Hughes wanted to make a difference in poetry. He did not want to be labeled as the young man, only speaking to African Americans. He wanted everyone to understand his great work, regardless of color.
“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.