The Poetry of Langston Hughes - Research Paper Example

The Poetry of Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was one of the most prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance. His poems have contributed immensely to the enriching of the body of African American literature. It has also enabled many people to conceive of a nation where people of African origin may live without feeling that they are in any way inferior to people of other races. The production of literature in trying times is something that Hughes needs to be given credit for. His role in gaining for the Black population of the United States of America a life of dignity should not be underestimated; at the same time, his work needs to be critiqued and looked upon analytically. Hughes led his early life in a dysfunctional family which his father was not a part of. This shaped many of the poetic concerns that he was to take up later in his life. It shaped the way he looked at life and also affected his financial status as in the absence of two earning members in the family, the economic situation was almost always not very good (Leach 2). Hughes was to remember these strained conditions later in life and was fortunate to receive patronage that would help his literary career to flourish. This paper shall look at some of the themes that he picks up in his works and locate them in certain poems of his. According to R. Baxton Miller, the very idea of detachment and a lack of political action that happens at the level of the grassroots were viewed with suspicion by Hughes (Miller 9). His idea of literature involved an active participation in the society from where the literature was coming and also the people that it was about. A poem like “Harlem” talks of the misery that affects people of the African American community at an everyday level. The lack of hope and a vision that could help them to aspire to anything higher than the squalor that they were used to needed to change, according to Hughes. One sees this in the opening question of the poem, “What happens to a dream deferred?” The deference that is the fate of the Black dream also point to the unavailability of the American Dream to the African American community that has to survive in conditions of squalor and poverty. Hughes warns against the consequences of such historical marginalization and foresees a future of violence as an after-effect of it. This can be seen in the ending of the poem, Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? (Hughes 1267) Hughes also wrote for an inclusive identity for the American citizen and this can be seen in the fact that what he wrote was for all sections of the American population. Tish Dace, in her essay, “On Langston Hughes: Pioneering Poet”, talks about how Hughes’ poetry “appeals to a broad spectrum of humanity....He wrote something for readers of every race, both genders, any age, any class or degree of education.” (35) This is dissimilar from the ideologies of separatism that were later expounded by many African American thinkers. One should not however, think that Hughes advocated a move towards standardization and a homogenous identity that leaves people of the African American community without a distinct identity of their own. He looks at the Black artist as one who would be able to rise above the obstacles of wanting to not be Black. The fascination for white culture is something that he critiques in his essay, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. He looks to lower class African Americans to furnish the material that would enable the consolidation of a Black identity. He says, They furnish a wealth of colorful distinctive material for any artist because they still hold their individuality in the face of American standardizations. And perhaps these common people will give to the world its truly great Negro artist, the one who is not afraid to be himself. (Hughes 1268) This, Hughes felt, would be possible only if the African American community felt a certain kind of a civilizational pride in itself. Hughes felt that there was ample matter for pride amongst his community. This is articulated in his poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, where the protagonist is Black and has an awareness of his rich cultural and civilizational heritage. He says, I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. (Hughes 1254) More than anything, what Hughes seeks to defend is the liberty of the African American community. It is evident from his essay “No Half-Freedoms”, that he did not believe in half-hearted measures that were done to please the African American community (25). What Hughes wanted was a recognition of the complete equality of the Black community and this can be seen in his poem, “I too” (Hughes, 1258), where he talks of the shame that people who discriminate against Black people need to feel. The protagonist of the poem claims a rightful share to America and asserts his Americanness. Much of Hughes’ poetry is about the assertion of the self and a refusal to accept ill-treatment at the hands of people who discriminate against a person on the basis of their skin color. To tell the story of the African American community was what Langston Hughes sought to do in his career. He felt that there was no difference in the poetry that he wrote, his personal experiences and those of the African Americans (Langston Hughes). The sense of community that he felt with other members of his community would later come in for critique by writers like Richard Wright who felt that he was too much ensconced in his middle class existence that he could not see the trials that other Blacks had to face. His contribution, however, remains a seminal and important part of the literature that has come out of the Harlem Renaissance and beyond. Works Cited Dace, Tish. “On Langston Hughes: Pioneering Poet”. The American Poetry Review 24 (6): 1995. 35-38. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/27781934 Hughes, Langston. “I Too”. Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1996. 1258. Print. Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”. Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1996. 1254. Print. Hughes, Langston. “Harlem”. Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1996. 1267. Print. Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. Norton Anthology of African American Literature. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay. New York: Norton, 1996. 1268. Print. Hughes, Langston. “No Half-Freedoms”. Langston Hughes and the Chicago Defender. Ed. Christopher D. Santis. USA: U of Illinois P, 1995. 25. Print. Leach, Laurie F. Langston Hughes: A Biography. Westport: Greenwood, 2004. 2. Print. “Langston Hughes”. Poets.org. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83 Miller, R. Baxter. The Art and Imagination of Langston Hughes. Lexington: The UP of Kentucky, 2006. 9. Print. Read More