How Did Langston Hughes Influence The Harlem Renaissance

Throughout history, music has been one of the driving factors that has brought different cultures together. One such time was the Harlem Renaissance in the late 1910’s and 1920’s. Langston Hughes, a renowned poet and playwright, used his inspiration from the culture he saw on a daily basis to drive his work to a higher plane of understanding and influenced an entire cultural movement with his words. In order to fully understand where his influence came from and where his works had their influence, we must take a look at the history of jazz music in Harlem and how it came to be. This paper is going to focus upon the aspect of Langston’s work and how his friendships with many famous jazz artists shaped the future of jazz culture through literature

and song.
In order to fully understand the Harlem Renaissance, one must take a step back and look at the culture of jazz from its beginnings in New Orleans. Jazz was originally the combination of brass band sounds with the feel of “rag-time” drum beats and tempos. As it grew rapidly, many cities in the United States began to have musical and cultural breakthroughs due to the rising popularity in jazz. Jazz rapidly evolved into many forms such as swing, blues, and ragtime. Jazz used many traditional styles as well such as waltz as well as ballad. The next prominent innovation in jazz would be the use of poetry in spoken word with a background music, mostly minimal instrumentation consisting of drums, guitar, and piano, with the occasional wind instrument like a clarinet or trumpet. Langston Hughes was the first major poet to adopt this style of writing so his works could be used in that same way. Born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902, James Mercer Langston Hughes would become a prodigy in the world of jazz and the African-American culture. His pen-name, Langston Hughes, is how he would publish his first major work. He graduated high school in 1920 and started attending Columbia University. In his time at the university he published his first and most notable piece, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. He only spent one year at the university and left so he could travel. He left the country for three years before returning and fully becoming a driving figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Upon his return to the U.S. Hughes met American poet Vachel Lindsay. The two became good friends and because of his connections, Lindsay was able to gain Hughes’s work more publicity and bring it to a wider audience. In 1925, Langston Hughes’s poem “The Weary Blues” won first prize in the Opportunity magazine literary competition. In the process, Hughes won a scholarship to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and while he was there, his work caught the attention of novelist and critic Carl Van Vechten. Because of his fame and connections, Vechten was able to help Hughes get his first book of poetry “The Weary Blues” published in 1926. Three years later, after his graduation from Lincoln, Hughes published his first novel “Not without Laughter.” This novel was the turning point in his career and was his inspiration and motivation that he could continue and make a living as a writer. It is very apparent that his skills as a writer have left a lasting imprint on the jazz culture, and in order to see how he did this, we must look at some of his most famous work and analyze how his legacy came to be.

One of his first poems, entitled “Po’ Boy Blues”, is where this journey is to begin. This poem is one of his shorter works, but has a message that is clear and is easy to understand and embodies the basic principle of jazz poetry. Even though this is not written to be a song, it is written in a certain style that allows the reader to picture a small combo group playing behind the reader as they speak the words from the page. It is written in a basic pattern and uses an ABABAB style of rhyme in the words. The poem itself tells the story of a man who leaves his home in the south and moves north and while he is there he falls in love with a woman. However, he states that “When I was home de sunshine seemed like gold… Since I come up North de whole damn world’s turned cold.” (Lines 3 through 6, Stanza 1) These lines show that he is not accustom to the climate change and wishes that he could have the same weather that he had back in his home state. The second stanza of the poem shows that the narrator admits that he is not ready for the world beyond his home, and that it is starting to affect him. There is an aspect of repetition in the poem that makes it feel as if it written to be a song. There are a few recordings that show small groups playing behind the poem being spoken in a normal tone. This poem expresses one of the first major moods of jazz and that is The Blues. Blues harkens back to a time when jazz was first emerging in New Orleans and New York, when songs were slower and had a deeper meaning to their words. Langston Hughes uses this technique to express how the narrator of the poem is remembering how his life used to be before he moved north. The Blues style of jazz and literature is reminiscent of that of a call to something or someone distant, often in the past. A more common uses for Blues is to dedicate music or literature to someone close who has passed away or someone who has moved a great distance away and is never heard from again. This poem also shows another aspect of adulthood that many young Americans then, and even now, have difficulty coming to terms with, and that is growing up. It gives a small taste of what the real world is like to the narrator and it reflects itself back to other young adults who are not fully ready for the world outside of grade school and away from their own homes. The poem explains that the narrator feels weary after everything he has been through and how the narrator wishes he had never been born. This shows the readers that the narrator has been through an ordeal and was not ready for the challenges that the world threw at him and he felt troubled because of it all.
The Weary Blues, not only the title of this next poem, was the title of Hughes’s first major book of poetry. This poem tells the story of a piano player on Lenox Avenue in Harlem and the sad tune that he played. We can see that through the text, Hughes’s identity surfaces as the one who is narrating this poem, rather than another person or character. This poem best represents how the night life on a daily occurrence in Harlem effected the people and the atmosphere around them. It starts with how Hughes notices the man playing his piano on the street a few nights prior, and how the man made the piano moan out as if it was singing the blues. “With his ebony hands on each ivory key, he made that poor piano moan with melody.” (Lines 9 and 10, stanza 1) The poem then goes on to explain how the man is swaying on his stool and how he shows an emotional connection to his music. For many musicians it is normal to make some form of sway or flowing motion when you play your instrument. This is able to allow listeners to connect with you as well as show that you have a deeper understanding of how the music works. Whether it’s just one piano or an entire big band, every line and harmonic partial creates some sort of tune that most people can connect with. Another point that the poem makes is that the piano player feels alone in the world, and he has to pick himself up and keep going through all the problems. The poem is able to relate to many real world issues and the piano player is able to channel his problems out through his playing of music. He also explains that in order to move on in life, you must sometimes put your problems behind you and not let them hold you down and to not let them define who you are. The poem shows that the pianist played into the early morning and then went to bed. “And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed.” (Lines 31 through 33, stanza 2) When the pianist has gone to bed, the early morning air is still, but the blues still echo through his head. This shows that the pianist says that he will be able to move on from his problems, but in order to do that he must try to forget. “While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.” (Line 34, stanza 2) This line shows that he cannot move on from his problems yet because they are still plaguing him in his head. It is able to show the reader that the Harlem Renaissance was a time when people were turning towards music in order to forget about all the wrong in the world back then.
The poem Jazzonia tells us the story of how a typical night club in Harlem would operate in terms of musicians and dancers. It shows that the narrator is experiencing a Harlem cabaret and is noticing how everyone is interacting. “In a Harlem cabaret, six long-headed jazzers play. A dancing girl whose eyes are bold, lifts high a dress of silken gold.” (Lines 3 through 6, Stanza 2) This paints the reader a picture of the cabaret as the girl performs her dance routine while the musicians play for her. The use of a cabaret instead of a nightclub gives the reader a sense of a more risqué side of the jazz era in Harlem. Mostly, cabarets were used as a means of dance hall style without having large amounts of people dancing. It was used more as a show for a dancer and their musicians to showcase their talents for an audience. Some of the acts could be risqué but mainly was a way for artists of all forms to begin their careers. In order for the artists to be discovered, they first had to master their craft and their own variation of that craft. To perform your own work, you had to have an emotional connection to the art. The poem states: “Oh, shining tree! Oh, silver rivers of the soul!” (Lines 1 and 2, Stanza 1) This shows that not only do the performers have a connection to their performance, the narrator is feeling a connection to the music and dancer. The narrator then compares the dancer to Eve and Cleopatra with her bold eyes and her gown of gold. It gives the sense that the narrator has an emotional connection to the dancer because he states, “Were Eve’s eyes in the first garden just a bit too bold? Was Cleopatra gorgeous in a gown of gold?” (Lines 9 through 13, stanza 4) He shows his affection to the dancer by saying that she is more beautiful than those women because her eyes were bold and wore a golden gown. He may be overplaying it just a bit because of his personal opinion of her, and sees her more in the moment than in a long term standpoint. This poem shows that by closing with the lines, “In a whirling cabaret six long-headed jazzers play.” It shows that he only then remembers the band playing and lost his attention for the dancer.
Bound No’th Blues is a poem that is relatable to many people because of the story it tells and the way it is written.

It tells the story of a man who is travelling down a road and wishes to have someone accompany him on his journey. In the poem, the narrator calls out to God to send him someone to be with him because he is tired of being sad and lonely. He then states that “But ever friend you finds seems like they try to do you bad.” He is talking about this entire time about the road of life. He wants nothing more than a true friend that would not leave him or try to bring him down in his life but never can find one. During the Harlem Renaissance, many people were trying to find their way during the changing times and often could never find anybody to join in the experience with. This poem demonstrates to us that the road of life during that time was a tough one and many people were left lonely and could not find anybody to be with. Aside from not having anyone with them, many people who could have been revolutionary in the Harlem Renaissance were probably never discovered and therefore we actually could be missing an entire piece of human history. This poem shows that the road of life is not always an easy one when you travel it alone, it can often be very difficult for some people and sometimes all someone needs is someone to share the time

with.
One of Hughes’s most inspirational pieces, The Backlash Blues, is a work that was turned into an actual jazz song by popular African-American jazz artist Nina Simone.

It spoke to the masses about common issues that many people faced every day. With issues ranging from tax raises, the war in Vietnam, and second-class living standards, this poem was an inspiration and a voice of the people who could not speak up for themselves and made an effort to challenge the norm that was set by the government. Many people found that the collaboration between Hughes and Simone to be a turning point in Africa-American culture. It called for an equal treatment of all the classes no matter what race or ethnicity they were. “Try to find myself a job to earn a little cash, all you got to offer is a white backlash.” (Lines 16 through 18, stanza 3) These lines show that the civil rights of African-Americans was not equal to the whites and the backlash from an unequal society was hurting the African-American community. The song was also very popular in the “Back to Africa Movement” because of its call that many people interpreted to be a call for the community to go back to its roots. This song and poem was the driving force behind an entire generation and was a key part in the civil rights

movement.
With learning that all these poems were influenced by a jazz culture, it is now easier to see how Langston Hughes was able to influence generations after him with his literature. The influence his literature has had upon jazz is exponential and has been an influence for many poets and artists alike. Many musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, and Miles Davis attribute a great deal of their work to his influence in how he worded his poems and made the words flow from the page. Much of Hughes’s influence can still be found today in many works of poetry and music. The poems aforementioned in this paper all tie together the concept that culture and poetry have a close connection, especially in terms of the Harlem Renaissance. Without the influence of the people and culture around him, Langston Hughes would never have been able to have the impact on history that he did. Thankfully, the circumstances played as they did and we have one of the best understandings of the Blues by any person in human history. Without his influence, much of the literature and jazz that we experience now could not have existed. It is hard to imagine a world where we have such a little understanding of the blues. Stating that however is a bit hypocritical because even now many music historians and jazz professionals do not hold the same level of understanding of the Blues that Langston Hughes had.
In conclusion, this paper has been able to take a step back in time and look at what shaped Langston Hughes’s literature and how he was able to influence generations through his writings and songs. The history of jazz was set the moment his first poem was published and continued to be shaped by his influence. Langston may not have been able to live to see how his work changed the world, but his legacy will continue on for generations to come. His most memorable works have been raised to their own pedestal and will be admired by fans of all genres of literature and music. Many people have done papers on the topic of Langston Hughes and his history in jazz and the Harlem Renaissance, but very few have been able to capture Hughes in the light he is known for. This paper is not about his history so much as it’s about how his history and work has influenced the Harlem Renaissance. There are many other points that could be taken about the Harlem Renaissance and its literature, but in order to fully understand the movement, we have to look at its most influential author.