The Art and Life of Langston Hughes - Research Paper Example

 The Art and Life of Langston Hughes Langston Hughes is one of the most renowned poets in the world of literature and was also an accomplished playwright, novelist and essayist as well. He is often associated with and was a major contributor to the Harlem Renaissance, which was originally known as the ‘New Negro Movement’. Langston Hughes played a valuable role in the literary and intellectual flowering of the African American community and produced a sense of pride in them. His poems carried a deep message that shed light on numerous issues that were faced by the then-American society. (Bloom, 2004) Langston Hughes has written countless prose and poems, and was known to be highly prolific at that. Despite the popularity of his essays and novels, the substance of this prose will focus on Hughes’ poetic feats, which were known to be inspired by his own life experiences. Hence in order to gain an analytical and evaluative insight into his poetry, it is first important to gain an insight into the life of the poet, who has earned tremendous accolade for his work. (Rampersad & McLaren, 2002) Langston Hughes was born James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri and had a very multiracial background as both his parents were of mixed race. His mother worked as a school teacher and his father, James Nathaniel Hughes was a storekeeper. James Nathaniel Hughes abandoned his family when Langston Hughes was very young and after legal dissolution of his parents’ marriage, Langston had a very unstable childhood as a result. He went on to live with his grandmother and then after her demise, he then moved in with his family friends. The early parts of his life were not entirely happy and were somewhat turbulent, due to his parents’ deteriorating marriage and his father’s subsequent abandonment. (Rampersad & McLaren, 2002) He later moved back in with his mother and his step-father in Lincoln, Illinois. He attended Lincoln grammar school and it was there where he discovered his avid love and penchant for literature, particularly poetry. He was voted as the class poet, but he was perturbed by the fact that due to his racial background Langston was often the victim of racial stereotyping as there were only two African American boys in his class; including Langston Hughes, and that is when he realized the divide between the African American community and the White segment of the American population. This feature of the American society has been the major themes of his poetry. He was heavily inspired by Carl Sandburg’s poetry and his unrhymed free verse style immensely impressed him. After graduating from high school, Hughes returned to live with his father in Mexico, where he was staying in order to avoid racism that pervaded the entire north of America. Langston hoped that by moving in with his father he would be able to convince him to finance his education in Columbia University. There was a major rife between Langston and his father as a result of his constant criticism and opposition to his dream of becoming a writer. (Rampersad & McLaren, 2002) The friction in the father-son relationship was not only caused by strong opposition to Langston’s aspirations but was also due to their conflicting personalities. There was such a strong rife in their relationship that Langston contemplated suicide at one point. One of the many reasons for the divide was apparent hate and revulsion for his own race. This came in conflict with Langston’s values, and he had a great sense of pride and loved the American race. Prior to his father’s hatred for the African American race, Langston Hughes’ stated, “I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn't understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much.” (Bloom, 2007, p. 6) His father persistently tried to dissuade Langston from taking up writing as a profession and often tried to convince him to stay in Mexico. In order to fulfill his father’s wishes, Langston Hughes took up engineering as his curse in Columbia University; however as a final disappointment to his father, Langston Hughes dropped out of university and took up a series of menial job and pursued his dream of becoming a writer. He wrote countless and as mentioned earlier, his poetry was largely inspired by his life experiences and the relationships he had had in his life. His poem “Mother to son” is an endearing literary wonder that speaks of the mother’s ordeal and the hardships she had t endure in her life. The poem was inspired by Langston’s mother, who was abandoned by her husband and then forced to seek employment in order to provide for herself and her son. The poem is about persevering and through this poem Langston Hughes has demonstrated that he was not ignorant to the hardships his mother faced and in the poem the mother tells her child to remain steadfast and “keep climbing”. (Davis & Jenkins, 2007, p. 199) Literary analysts have also fund a new dimension to this poetry and has been taken to depict the ordeal faced by the entire African American and served as a motivational poem for them. However, focusing on the previously mentioned dimension, ‘Mother to son’ is an endearing monologue of a mother, who tells her son about the many hardships she faced but despite them she never gave up on life and she is advising her son to follow her footsteps too. It is clear from the following the verses of the poem: Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now— For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', Another great poem written by Langston Hughes that earned him great accolades and was one of his greatest poetic feats, it was called ‘Negro speaks of rivers’. As Langston Hughes had been the victim of racism and racial stereotyping, since he was very young; he knew what it was like to be victimized on the basis of one’s race. This poem speaks about how their ancestors had lived in Congo and Egypt, and had made their mark in all these places. And now they occupied the land of United States of America, his mention of Abraham Lincoln is symbolic of emancipation and how the African American community was freed from the shackles of slavery and bondage. (Bloom, 2007, p. 183) Langston Hughes’ states that his ‘Soul has become deep as the rivers”, in this phrase he is comparing his soul to a river; which signifies that the speaker had internalized his sense of identity and was no longer ashamed. Depth is only acquired in the heart of the river and for his soul, which is the life force of his body had acquired the same depth as he takes in pride for who he is and is no longer ashamed of what and who he is. This poem was written in response to the intense racism and racial differences that pervaded the American society. Having been a victim of the same racial bigotry, the speaker in this poem clearly expresses his pride and his true identity, as he speaks of Congo, Nile and the emancipation of the African American community. (Bloom, 2007, p. 183) Another one of his great poem was “deferred dreams” that as the name suggests is written to describe the great opposition he faced from his father when he told him about his dream of becoming a writer. In order to placate his father he deferred his dreams and in response to the situation he wrote ‘deferred dreams’. In deferred dreams, the speaker talks about what dreams really are and it is hard to suppress them. Dreams are an individual’s goals and his aspirations, and it is not easy to give up on them. As he used the analogy and stated, “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun”. This poem shows the ordeal faced by Langston when he was forced to take up engineering just in order to please. And he states it in his poem that no matter how much you try, dreams cannot be suppressed like that. (Bloom, 2007, p. 200 & Tidwell & Ragar, 2007, p. 9) The substance of this prose has analyzed three of the most amazing poems written by Langston Hughes that not only carry a deep, meaningful message but are actually a narrative of what he had been through in his life. Every great writer uses the experiences and events in his own life. Whether it is joy, love or sorrow, their poems are a reflection of their experience and they cathartically expressed their emotions. Langston Hughes possessed the makings of a great writer and poet; therefore there is a glimpse of Langston in all his work. There are countless other works of Langston Hughes, however “mother to son”, “Negro speaks of rivers” and “deferred dreams” are not only one of his greatest works but carry a deep message that life had taught him and subsequently, helped him grow into the person he is remembered now as. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Langston Hughes. InfoBase Publishing. 2007: P.p 6, 183, 200 Bloom, Harold. The Harlem Renaissance. InfoBase Publishing. 2004 Davis, Alex & Jenkins, Lee Margaret. The Cambridge companion to modernist poetry. Cambridge University Press. 2007: p. 199 Rampersad, Arnold & McLaren, Joseph. The collected works of Langston Hughes: An autobiography: the big sea. University of Missouri Press. 2002 Tidwell, John Edgar & Ragar, Cheryl R. Montage of a dream: the art and life of Langston Hughes. University of Missouri Press. 2007: p. 9 Read More