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Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
Hughes
(1902-1967)
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Langs
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Hughe
Langston Hughes
20 East 127th New York City, New York (Harlem) |D.O.B.: February 1, 1902|714-123-4567
An American poet, novelist, and playwright whose African-American themes made him a primary contributor to the
Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. He told stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture.
Poems: Education:
● As I Grew Older (1925) - About the American Columbia University (1921-1922)
dream of equality, rights and opportunities which Lincoln University (1926-1929)
was dreamed by all Americans but denied to African
Americans. Awards and Achievements:
● Dreams (1932) - About the importance of dreams ● Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
and what one’s life would be without them. ● Spingarn Medal
● Let America Be America Again (1936) - About how ● Quill Award for Poetry
racism, greed, and materialism plunged millions into ● Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts
darkness and ruined the American dream.
Metaphorical Comparisons
1. Animal - Mockingjay- Hughes was a social activist, working and rebelling towards ending
social inequalities.
2. Music - Jazz- Hughes would closely represent a jazz-genre song because of the jazzy
rhythm to his poems and the inspiration he gets from the Harlem Renaissance.
3. Color - Blue- Hughes represents blue because his poems have a blues-like rhythm as well as
the emotion that is associated within blues.
5. Word - Determination is the word representing Hughes because his work “Dreams”
reminds us dreams come true eventually with determination.
Metaphorical Comparisons (cont.)
6. Fragrance - Smoke - Hughes was a frequent smoker as well as a Jazz enthusiast, having
the essence of jazz club nights.
7. Natural Phenomenon - Wind - Hughes carried and shifted the momentum of the Harlem
Renaissance towards success.
8. Day of the Week - Monday - Hughes represented a pure form of determinism, showing
his peers that to succeed meant to keep moving forward to new beginnings.
9. Food - sorghum molasses - Hughes was a man of great celebration and jubilee, always
commemorating the success of African Americans.
10. Geometric shape - pillar - Hughes represents one of the main influential people
supporting the Harlem renaissance.
Metaphorical Comparisons (cont.)
11. Landscape - Rivers - Hughes represents rivers because of his work “The Negro Speaks of
Rivers”
12. Appliance/Machinery - Catalyst - Being a very influential writer, Hughes urged the Black
population to embrace their identity and the Harlem Renaissance to take off.
13. Article of Clothing - Coat - Hughes is always wearing a coat or holding a coat, having a
professional persona.
14. Season - Summer - The summer represents a time of celebration and peace, Hughes
highlights this season because of his peaceful and optimistic attitude.
15. Literary Character - Jesse B. Semple - Jesse is a poor, harlem man who blames the white
folks for hardships in his life, resembles Hughes in a stereotype turned to advantage.
Dreams (1932)
Hold fast to dreams Hold onto the dreams of your future, the things you hope
}
for, or the goals you want to achieve.
For if dreams die
Metaphor: Hughes compares life without dreams to a
Life is a broken-winged bird broken-winged bird
● Life will be harsh and difficult without dreams
That cannot fly. ● Dreams give life purpose and meaning
Hold fast to dreams Anaphora: Repeats first line “Hold fast to dreams”
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
} ● Emphasizes the importance of having dreams
}
Means not only whites are and be one with the
When company comes. rest of America.
American, but African
I, too, sing America. } Americans too.
● They are also citizens and
Nobody’ll dare ● They will be
treated equally
Say to me, ● No segregation
should be treated equally.
I am the darker brother. “Eat in the kitchen,"
}
They send me to eat in the kitchen Although
he is Then. Once African
When company comes, African Americans are
}
But I laugh, American, seen as equal,
he is still Besides, everyone will
And eat well, American. They’ll see how beautiful I am see how
And grow strong. African Americans do not worry beautiful they
And be ashamed— are and be
about segregation, because they know
they will grow stronger from it and ashamed of
Repetition their prejudice
know that they will be equal soon, I, too, am America. } of first line
but uses
towards them.
“am”
Structure, Poetic Devices, SOAPSTONE + Theme
● Free verse poem, 5 stanzas
● Symbolism: “Eating in the kitchen” symbolizes the segregation between African
Americans and white people
● Metaphor: “I am the darker brother” refers to the African American population
● Speaker: Langston Hughes
● Occasion: Harlem Renaissance, Takes place in the kitchen of a white household
● Audience: African Americans, White people that oppress them
● Purpose: To claim African Americans’ rights as an American and to show that the
oppression is making them grow stronger.
● Subject: Oppression of African Americans
● Tone: Patriotic, optimistic
● Thematic statement: By refusing to be affected by the awful pressures of slavery and
segregation, one can grow stronger and move closer to racial equality.
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1921)
}
★ Immediately presents the symbol of
I’ve known rivers: rivers, representing history or spirit.
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the ★ Rivers are deeply rooted and belong to
the world alone.
flow of human blood in human veins.
}
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. great natural rivers of the
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. Continent to show the greatness
of the homeland
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. - Gives African American readers
insight into their background and
identity
- Provides a basis for pride in
identity
}
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln ● Symbolizes America as a new
home to African Americans
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen it's muddy ● Emphasizes the end of slavery
bosom turn all golden in the sunset. enabling the ability for African
Americans to now flourish
● Muddy Bosom represents
Slavery in the South, turning
I’ve known rivers: golden after the civil war.
Repetition to re-emphasize
}
●
My soul has grown deep like the rivers. the unawakened potential
within all African
Americans
Structure, Poetic Devices, SOAPSTONE + Theme
● Free Verse poem, 5 stanzas
● Allusion: Including rivers that are located within the African continent such as the
Euphrates and Nile Rivers, projects the unwillingness of blacks in America.
● Hyperbole: “Raised the pyramids” is significant because it shows the power and intellect
African ancestors possessed, fueling Harlem Renaissance ideas.
● Speaker: Langston Hughes
● Occasion: Harlem Renaissance Influence
● Audience: African Americans
● Purpose: To help African Americans understand their roots and potential
● Subject: African American potential and ancestry
● Tone: Sentimental
● Thematic Statement: Remembering one’s history will allow them to understand their
identity and take hold of their potential.
Let America be America Again (1935)
The poem is in a way pleading for
Let America be America again. America to re-establish the idea of
O, let my land be a land where Liberty ● Speaker believes Lady Liberty and the
}
which is representative of another side of
I am the red man driven from the land, the speaker.
● Speaks as a voice for the oppressed.
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek— ● Repetition of “I am” in order to
powerfully relay a monumental
And finding only the same old stupid plan message.
● Speaks for the collective rather than
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
only himself
Structure, Poetic Devices, SOAPSTONE + Theme
● Structure: 3 quatrains, 1 sextet; Rhyme scheme consists of abab-(b)-cdcd-(b)-bebe-(bb)
● Poetic Devices
■ Repetition: “I am” in lines 20-24
■ Anaphora: First stanza- “Let America/Let it be/Let it be” to “The land, the plants, the
mines, the rivers” is representative of song lyrics or part of a political speech.
● Speaker: Langston Hughes
● Occasion: Langston Hughes was in the midst of the Great Depression during 1935 on a train ride,
and his situation prompted him to write about a reviving the American spirit.
● Audience: Most likely directed towards those who have been affected during his time by the Great
Depression; served as a message of sympathy for those oppressed,
● Purpose: To remind others of the hardships in hoping and reaching for the American Dream.
● Subject: The difficulty of achieving the American Dream
● Tone: Defeated, hopeless
● Thematic Statement: Under difficult circumstances, human rights such as freedom and inequality
can be almost unattainable.
Harlem (1951)
“The dream” refers to the African Americans’ wishes of the right to
live a fulfilling life with equality and opportunity.
What happens to a dream deferred? } ● Poem begins with a broad question that provokes a lot of
thought in the reader.
}
You sing 'em on Broadway ● Alludes to the hollywood
scene, which at the time was
And you sing 'em in Hollywood Bowl, dominated by a white
population
And you mixed 'em up with symphonies ● Shows segregation of Black
people and stolen culture
And you fixed 'em
}
Yep, you done taken my blues and gone.
inequality between Black and
white people
You also took my spirituals and gone.
● Alludes to Macbeth because it
involves European people
You put me in Macbeth and Carmen Jones
And all kinds of Swing Mikados
Me myself!
www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Langston Hughes.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica,
www.biography.com/people/langston-hughes-9346313.
www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/langston-hughes.