Langston Hughes - Poetry Analy
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) absorbed America. In doing so, he wrote about many issues critical to his time period, including The Renaissance, The Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, Jazz, Blues, and Spirituality. Just as Hughes absorbed America, America absorbed the black poet in just about the only way its mindset allowed it to: by absorbing a black writer with all of the patronizing self-consciousness that that entails.
The contradiction of being both black and American was a great one for Hughes. Although this disparity was troublesome, his situation as such granted him an almost begged status; due to his place as a “black American” poet, ...
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the various rhythms, patterns, and unpredictable improvisations that mirror the chaotic and pulsating tempo of city life. Jazz and black oral influences, as well as social dichotomy are pervasive elements throughout Hughes’ poetry. Like nightclub entertainers, Hughes used the progression of Afro-American music (jazz, ragtime, swing, blues, and be-bop) in order to show the growth and change of a community in conflict, as is shown in “Subway Rush Hour.”
This poem, brimming with sudden and broken rhythms, is characteristic of jazz riffs popular in the 1920s. In “Subway Rush Hour,” Hughes uses the musicality of his poetry and incorporates it with an important social statement regarding the relation status between blacks and whites.
Equality is an ever-present theme throughout Hughes’ poetry. In “Theme for English B,” Hughes presents us with musical and effective language, an intense social statement, and a very important sense of equality, shocking us into ...
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Langston Hughes - Poetry Analy. (2008, July 30). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Langston-Hughes-Poetry-Analy/87549
"Langston Hughes - Poetry Analy." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 30 Jul. 2008. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Langston-Hughes-Poetry-Analy/87549>
"Langston Hughes - Poetry Analy." Essayworld.com. July 30, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Langston-Hughes-Poetry-Analy/87549.
"Langston Hughes - Poetry Analy." Essayworld.com. July 30, 2008. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Langston-Hughes-Poetry-Analy/87549.
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