Langston Hughes
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Langston Hughes was often labeled the Poet Laureate of Harlem, particular because his poetry retained the rhythm, idiom, and dialect of his culture—a fact that often saw him vilified by those who viewed his honest expression as underscoring all the elements of black existence they feared and hated. In actuality, his poems deal with the painful and joyous aspect of black life equally and represent a virtual rhythmical photograph of originality from the perspective only an honest black man could give them. Hughes’ impact on black literature cannot be overstated, from his simple, direct and brutally honest poetry and influence in forming the Harlem Renaissance to his later career as a journalist championing human rights. Hughes was prolific, talented and versatile, able to write in any genre with equal ease and skill. Hughes was often an inspiration to other young black men, particularly writers because of his unique character, one that served as a beacon amidst the despair in society not as a call to arms to destroy it, “Hughes served as both an inspiration and a mentor for the younger black writers who came of age in the 1960s. With his rich poetic voice, nurturing generosity, warm humor, and abiding love of black people, Langston Hughes was one of the dominant voices in American literature of this century, and perhaps the single most influential black poet” (A Brief 1488).Influenced as a boy by Carl Sandburg and Laurence Dunbar, d
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hs of the black race, but also to remain proud to be part of it in a racist, often hostile environment. As he once stated, “No great poet has ever been afraid of himself. We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. It they aren’t, it doesn’t matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too…If colored people are please we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn’t matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, as strong as we know how and we stand on the top of the mountain, free within ourselves” (The Poet 1). Anyone familiar with James Baldwin’s writings in the Introduction to Notes of a Native Son will see the influence of Hughes’ above words on other black writers—or at least the similar sentiments of the great black writers with respect to self and others.
If we look at two poems by Hughes, we not only witness his rhythmical, direct, simple, black idiom and dialect, but we also see that even during the last years of his life he was still questioning, asking, accepting, demanding, nurturing, but, more than anything, still being true to himself and how that self perceived the world about it. In a Dream
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Approximate Word count = 1359
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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