John+Fallon

= Langston Hughes = = (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) =

=The Quest for Identity=

James Langston Hughes is, without a doubt, one of the most famous poets of all time. The poems that he had written over his illustrious career were based on his personal and ancestral experiences during a time when African Americans were severely looked down upon. Hughes’ life, alone from his poetry, is just as inspirational as his works. I have chosen to write about Langston Hughes because his writings primarily came during the Civil Rights Era, which is very surprising since the voices of African Americans were seldomly heard during that time. The pieces of poetry I believe are his most influential pieces of work are “Negro Speaks of Rivers”, “Mother to Son”, and “Dreams”. In “Negro Speaks of Rivers”, he mentions that the depths of his heritage are as deep as some of the rivers that are mentioned. In “Mother to Son”, a mother is telling her young boy to never give up since it won’t get any easier, no matter how hard life can be, because through all of her experiences, she still managed to persevere. In “Dreams”, he tells the reader to never lose site of their dreams, because it’s something to always hold on to and that it’s something that can always push you to become whatever you want. Although an icon in the world of poetry has been lost, Langston Hughes’ masterpieces will forever be some of the most educational and inspirational works of poetry that one can ever find. In the poem “Mother to Son”, Langston Hughes paints a picture of a poor, southern, African American woman speaking to her son about lessons that life will eventually teach him. When the mother tells her young boy that “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair, it’s had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor” (lines 2-6). All of these images the woman talks about represent the hardships in which she has gone through. Through all of her hard times she’s been “climbin’ on, and reaching landings, and turnin’ corners, and sometimes going in the dark where there ain’t been no light” (lines 10-14). These images show that no matter how terrible things got, she still managed to keep on going and never gave up. As words of encouragement and wisdom to her son, she tells him “So boy, don’t turn you back. Don’t you set down on the steps. ‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall no- For I’se still goin’, honey. And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (lines 15-20). The son will learn that things will get very difficult at times, and that no matter how bad he wants to give up, he cant because that won’t make his problems go away and life won’t get any easier. To convey Hughes’ voice in the poem, he uses dramatic monologue. He uses words such as: ain’t, climbin’, and I’se, common words used by primarily African Americans. Using these words he tries to get the point across that women were not very well educated, but they had street smarts and wisdom. Hughes shows life as an ascent up a staircase; something that is very difficult, but also something that must be attempted and achieved. This poem was written during a time where African Americans did not have the opportunity to really educate themselves due to being oppressed by the predominantly white, American culture. They had to rely on the strength of their will to persevere if they wanted to make it day by day. When analyzing the poem “Negro Speaks of Rivers”, we see that Hughes uses a strong emphasis on four-very famous rivers, rivers which African Americans inhabited throughout their history.

“ I bathed in the Eurphrates 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 River when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans” (lines 5-9)

Hughes also mentions that his “soul has grown deep like the rivers” ( line 3), meaning that rivers are not like the long, obtrusive roots of a tree of the veins inside a human beings body, but rivers are similar to the soul and like Hughes’ quest for identity, never ending. In this poem the theme of roots is very well evident. The textual details invoke strong imagery related to veins, rivers, and the roots of trees- giving off an impress of timelessness since these things have seemed to have always been present. Hughes is able to create two-meanings of the word “roots”, a historical and familiar point of view. In a short amount of words, Hughes is saying that his roots are deep like the rivers that he has mentioned, and that his African American heritage will continue running and flowing, just like rivers. In this time period that this was written, there really wasn’t any interest in the history of African Americans. They were considered slaves, having no worth or value, and having no other purpose than serving someone else. They weren’t able to be their own people, despite the hard work that their ancestry had done to get them were they are today. In the poem “Dreams”, Hughes explores that without dreams, life is without meaning. His poem expresses that one cant give up on dreams and without dreams, life is a waste. “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly” (lines 1-4). Next, Hughes compares a life without dreams to a cold-barren field when he says “For when dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow” (lines 6-8). This comparison of a loss of dreams to a barren field is expressing that without dreams, nothing can happen because being like a barren field, nothing can grow. During the time this poem was composed, no black men were allowed to fulfill their dreams since they weren’t considered “important” in the eyes of most Americans. No matter how long the black culture was being oppressed, Hughes emphasizes that they must have dreams so that one day, their dream of reaching equality can actually happen. Hughes’ inspiration came from his grandmother, Mary Langston, whom he lived with up until he was the age of 13. In 8th grade, he was named class poet, and continued writing all through his high school years. His writing talent was recognized by his high school teachers and classmates, and Hughes had his first pieces of verse published in the Central High //Monthly//, a sophisticated school magazine. After graduating, he was accepted and studied at Colombia University in New York. Hughes planned to return to Mexico to visit with his father, in order to try to convince him that he should pay for his son's college education. Hughes entered Columbia University in the fall of 1921, a little more than a year after he had graduated from Central High School. Langston stayed in school there for only a year; meanwhile, he found Harlem. Hughes quickly became an integral part of the arts scene in Harlem, so much so that in many ways he defined the spirit of the age, from a literary point of view. Money was a nagging concern for Hughes throughout his life. While he managed to support himself as a writer, no small task, he was never financially secure. In 1947, however, through his work writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical "Street Scene," Hughes was finally able to earn enough money to purchase a house in Harlem, which had been his dream. Langston Hughes was, in his later years, deemed the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race," a title he encouraged. Hughes meant to represent the race in his writing and he was, perhaps, the most original of all African American poets. On May 22, 1967 Langston Hughes died after having had abdominal surgery.