Langston Hughes

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Langston Hughes
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Biography

• Born 1902- Grew up mainly in Lawrence, Kansas
• As child, his mother (a teacher) sued to allow
  him to go to a white school- succeeded, but
  Hughes was an outcast
• Dad left U.S. because of racism- mother had to
  work, so Hughes strongly by grandmother, whose
  husband died with John Brown
• 1921- Went to Colombia (in NYC) but dropped out
  due to discrimination
• 1922- Worked series of menial jobs- including
  working on a ship that eventually brought him to
  Paris- travelled in Europe for a year- part of
  black expatriate community
• 1924- Returned to U.S.- was discovered as poet,
  and finished college at Lincoln, PA- a
  historically black college
• Late 1920s- Returned to Harlem- lived there for
  rest of life
• Died in 1968

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Poetry 101
I, Too BY LANGSTON HUGHES I, too, sing
America. I am the darker brother. They send me
to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I
laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.
Tomorrow, Ill be at the table When company
comes. Nobodyll dare Say to me, Eat in the
kitchen, Then. Besides, Theyll see how
beautiful I am And be ashamed I, too, am
America.

• subject - the general or specific topic of the
  poem (what the poem is about).
• tone - the poet's attitude toward the subject of
  the poem (this may be different from the
  speaker's attitude). We can identify the tone of
  the poem by noting the author's use of poetic
  devices.
• theme - The statement the poem/poet makes about
  its subject. 

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Themes Class Struggle

• Hughes clashed early with DuBois and others due
  to his celebration of low black culture
• Also challenged superiority of white culture
• "We younger Negro artists who create now intend
  to express our individual dark-skinned selves
  without fear or shame. If white people are
  pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't
  matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too...
  If colored people are pleased we are glad. If
  they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter
  either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong
  as we know how, and we stand on top of the
  mountain, free within ourselves."
• Emphasized humor, wit, and strength of common
  people
• Poems Madam and Her Madam, Brass Spittoons,
  Share Croppers

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Madam and Her Madam

• I worked for a woman,
• She wasn't mean
• But she had a twelve-room
• House to cleanHad to get breakfast,
• Dinner, and supper, too
• Then take care of her children
• When I got through.Wash, iron, and scrub,
• Walk the dog around
• It was too much,
• Nearly broke me down.I said, Madam,
• Can it beYou
• trying to make
• A Pack-horse out of me?She opened her mouth
• .She cried, Oh, no! You know,
• Alberta,I love you so!I said, Madam,
• That may be true
• But I'll be dogged if I love you!

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Music

• Fascinated by Jazz and Blues
• Used rhythms and patterns of this music in his
  poetry
• Also tied into his desire to portray life of
  common people
• Poems Dream Variations, Same in Blues, The Weary
  Blues

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Dream Boogie

• Good morning,daddy!
• Aint you heard
• The boogie-woogie rumble
• Of a dream deferred?
• Listen closely
• Youll hear their feet
• Beating out and beating out a ?
• You think
• Its a happy beat?
• Listen to it closely
• Aintt you heard
• Something underneath
• Like a ?
• What did I say?

Sure. Im happy! Take it away! Hey
pop! Re-bop! Mop! Y-e-a-h! What dont bug Them
white kids Sure bugs me We knows everybody Aint
free!
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The American Dream- Deferred

• Hughes essentially optimistic, in that he
  believes in possibility of racial equality
• At same time, incredibly bitter about the
  hypocrisy of white liberals who talk one thing
  and act another way.
• Repeated phrase- a dream deferred
• Poems Democracy, I Too, Harlem, Merry- Go-Round

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Harlem

• What happens to a dream deferred?
• Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or
  fester like a sore -And then run?Does it stink
  like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over -like
  a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.
• Or does it explode?

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Origins Mothers and Rivers

• Hughes had a lot of abandonment issues
• Also spent childhood in white culture, but
  never accepted as part of it.
• Thus, many poems about what it is to be black,
  white, somewhere in between
• Poems Negro Mother, Negro Speaks of Rivers, The
  Bitter River, Cross, Mother to Son, Theme for
  English B.

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The Negro Speaks of Rivers

• I've known rivers
• I've known rivers ancient
• as the world and older than
• the flow of human blood in human veins.My soul
  has grown deep like the rivers.I bathed in the
  Euphrates
• when dawns were young.
• I built my hut near the Congo
• and it lulled me to sleep.I looked upon the Nile
• and raised the pyramids above it.
• I heard the singing of the Mississippi
• when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans,
• and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in
  the sunset.I've known riversAncient, dusky
  rivers.My soul has grown deep like the rivers.