James Mercer Langston Hughes, one of the most influenced writers, thinkers and poets of Harlem Renaissance was born on February, 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. It was that time of twentieth century when America was suffering from great political crisis because of the assassination of President William McKinley. Pathways to prosperity had opened its doors at the turn of twentieth century in America, but Hughes seriously felt that he and his other African-American fellows are excluded from these opportunities. They experienced extreme discrimination in education and employment. Hughes experienced a lonely and bad childhood which had a strong influence on his poetry. He wrote about poor, ordinary and deprived people.
“Hughes travelled the globe, visiting museums and places other tourists frequent, but he found more satisfaction in seeking out the forgotten people-the poor and downtrodden who lived in shadows. These people inspired him.” (Haugen, 2006, p. 11)
Hughes was mainly brought up by his maternal grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. She helped to shape his future outlook on his life work, thought and vision. He was introduced to the writings and contributions of civil right activities such as William Du Bois, Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass. She prepared her for the racism which he would face during his life. She instilled the sense of dedication in Hughes to fight for the rights if African Americans.
“For many especially African Americans, Hughes has achieved the status of cultural icon, a man lionized and venerated as black poet laureate of the twentieth century.” (Wallace, 2008, p. 8).
After death of grandmother, he started living with his mother in Lincoln Illinois. He was elected as a class poet while studying in high school. When he completed his high school, he spend a year with his father at Mexico ho discouraged him from writing.
“A Negro Speaks of River” was the first poem written by Hughes which was published in 1921 in crisis Magazine. The poem depicted the roots, history and identity of African Americans. At this stage Hughes was inspired from the unrhymed free verse style of Carl Sandburg. His first collection of poems, “The Weary Blues” published in 1926 gave him the reputation of the leading black poets of his era. He wrote an essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain in 1926, poem “Fine Clothes to the Jew” in 1927 and “Not without Laughter, a novel in 1930. He also wrote for Soviet Union in 1930s. In total, he wrote sixteen books of poems, twenty plays, two autobiographies and many articles in magazines and newspapers. He died in New York City on May 22, 1967. Black Nationalism, racism, injustice and social exhortation remained prominent in his writings.
“Hughes firmly believed that his words could change lives. He was never just a writer, he was a black writer.” (Bloom, 2002, p. 8)
Works by Langston Hughes
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” was written by Langston Hughes in 1921 when he was only seventeen years old. The poem was published in “The Crisis” and it was contributed to W.E.B DuBois, a civil activist and one of the Hughes’s sources of inspiration. It mainly deals with the theme of identity quest of African Americans. Symbolism is used by the poet to portray the relationships between rivers and African American life. Imagery is used by the poet to illustrate the background of African Americans.
No stanzas are used in this poem, but it is split into logical divisions and thirteen lines of free verse. Writer used the four great rivers including Euphrates, Nile, Congo and Abe Lincoln as a might metaphor to predate human existence. They were linked to the development of African American civilization that how they contributed, suffered and survived. Poet tried to express that the people of his race are timeless like rivers by using the word “Ancient” in the poem. He used “Dusky Rivers” to compare the river to the skin color of African Americans.
Poet used the sensory imagery frequently so that readers could feel, view and smell the great riversides of the history. The narrative mode of the poem is from first person perspective as the poet used “I” to express his feelings. “I” had represented the whole black race and their history. Rivers are used allegorically to humanity in the third line of the poem “flow of human blood in human veins”. The tone of this poem is one of self pride as the poet is proud of distinctive history of Africans Americans.
The themes of cultural awareness, proud cultural history and perseverance are prominent throughout this short poem. Indentations used by poet in third, ninth and tenth line helped in exhibiting the unity of his thoughts. There is a hope of freedom and prosperity in the poem. Poet raised the voice for equality of rights and paid tribute to the strength and wisdom of African Americans.
Not Without Laughter
Not without Laughter was the first novel written by Langston Hughes in 1930. Sandy Rogers, a young black boy, living in Kansas in the main character of this novel. He is a sixteen years old African American boy who is enthusiastic and determined to continue his studies despite the economic hardships suffered by his family. It is semi autobiographical novel based upon the memories of Hughes. Spatial setting of the novel is a fictional town of Stanton which is located in Kansas. The temporal setting of the novel is the earliest part of twentieth century including World War One.
Fate of Great Black Migration and the way how their marginalization was responded by an invisible community is one of the important themes of the novel. Another theme is the writer’s concern for the working class of the African American people and the social injustices face by them at workplaces. The awareness of color consciousness among the black people at that time was also portrayed in this novel as the writer described Sandy’s playmate as “small ivory-white negro child with straight golden hairs.” Another obvious theme is racism which was much prevalent in the United States at that time. Sandy was regularly segregated by his school fellows and he was also not allowed to attend the carnivals because of his dark complexion.
The protagonist of the novel is Sandy Rogers who lives with his mother Annjee and grand mother Aunt Hager. His mother works for a white family while grandmother keeps in laundry. His Father Jimboy works occasionally and spends most of the time in listening music and dancing. There is no chacrter development throughout the novel and all charcters remain static and flat. These all characters are significantly affected by the society’s destructive racism. Interestingly, color category is assigned to different characters in this novel. Hughes describes Jimboy as “yellow fellow”, Aunt Hager as “Black Aunt Hager” and Sandy as “Brown Grandson.”
The novel has a main plot which deals with Sandy and his family’s struggle and a subplot which focuses on the life of Annjee’s sister Harriet who is an artist. Third person narration is used in the novel as the characters in the novel are referred by the words like “he”, “she” and “they.”
References
Bloom, H., & Infobase Publishing (2002). Langston Hughes. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
Haugen, B. (2006). Langston Hughes: The voice of Harlem. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books.
Hughes's Life and Career--by Arnold Rampersad. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/life.htm
Langston Hughes Biography - life, children, parents, name, story, history, school, mother, book, information, born, college. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ho-Jo/Hughes-Langston.html
Library System - Howard University. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.howard.edu/library/reference/guides/hughes/
Nazel, J. (2004). Langston Hughes. Los Angeles, CA: Melrose Square Pub. Co.
Wallace, M. O. (2008). Langston Hughes: The Harlem Renaissance. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
