Langston Hughes: Life in Poetry
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) – poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and translator of Spanish and Latin American poetry, anthologist (including fundamental publications «The Poetry of the Negro» By Hughes& Bontemps), author of books for young people about the history of the Negro people of the United States, its culture and the arts. Hughes's literary heritage consists of more than 50 books. Hughes left an extremely rich legacy in a variety of genres: poetry, novels, autobiographical prose, short stories, plays. He has collaborated with newspapers, publishing there lots of satirical sketches in which main character was a black citizen called Simple.
Poetry of Hughes absorbed the experienced various moments of his life, social and political events, family relationships, etc. To better understand the motives of his works, you should turn to the sources of his biography. Let’s begin with childhood. Family tree of Hughes included public figures, members of the abolitionist movement. After his parents divorced, the boy lived in Kansas, where he was raised by his grandmother, Mary Langston. Thanks to the experience of abolitionist struggle of her generation, Mary Langston instilled a strong sense of racial dignity to young Hughes. Childhood and adolescence of Hughes have passed wandering around the country: his mother, a former teacher, moving from state to state, worked as a typist, a waitress, a day laborer, he himself began to earn more in the lower grades. In Lincoln high school Langston was elected as the poet in the class. Many years later, Hughes recalled that it was done because of the stereotype that African Americans probably have a better sense of rhythm. There were only two of Negro kids in the whole class and their English teacher always pointed to the importance of rhythm in poetry.
Everyone thought there that all negroes had rhythm, so they elected Hughes as a class poet. During training in Cleveland, Langston worked in the school newspaper and was editor of the yearbook, and already then began to write his first poems, stories and plays. During this period of his life, Hughes stated that such American poets as Paul Laurence Dunbar and Carl Sandburg had the greatest impact on his works.In 17 years, at the end of the school in Cleveland, on his way to his father in Mexico, Langston Hughes wrote his famous "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". The work was published in Crisis Magazine in 1921. Langston Hughes was encouraged by the unjust fate of the blacks in slavery. The poem became the personification of the soul of black people during the racial injustice. Hughes dedicated "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" to W.E.B. DuBois – famous black scholar and social activist of the time. He fought for the abolition of racial discrimination, and Langston Hughes supported him deeply. In the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" Hughes attempted to associate soul of the black community with the major rivers around the world. …
