It was very interesting in class when we analyzed some of Hughes’ poetry after listening to jazz and blues music. This activity showed the importance of jazz during this time and the influence of jazz on writing and the lives of African Americans. In my opinion, Hughes possessed great talent to be able to incorporate the music of the time into his poetry. As we read and discussed two of Hughes’ poems, Jazzonia and The Weary Blues which were obviously influenced by music, it was amazing to see how Hughes incorporated this into his writing.
It is very obvious from Langston Hughes’ essay, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, that he was a proponent of writing about racial representation. Hughes harshly criticized Countee Cullen for wanting to be seen as simply a poet and not as an African American poet, as well as for writing about universal themes. When reading The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, I consciously looked for themes of racial representation in his work. Almost all of Hughes’ poems dealt with the African American heritage, as well as relevant issues in African Americans’ lives. The poems, Danse Africaine and Dream Variations directly reference Africa and the significance of African roots. The poem, The South, characterizes African American life in the south. Hughes also offers poems of racial uplift for example, America and I, Too. These poems looked to offer African Americans a sense of hope and inspiration to persevere through the adversity they faced in the United States during this time.
Hughes’ writing is much different from Countee Cullen’s poetry. Besides the obvious differences between their writing of Cullen’s universal themes and Hughes’ racial representation, Cullen’s poems were often wordy and difficult to interpret whereas Hughes’ poetry is mostly straightforward and much more literal. At times I have difficulty moving beyond the literal meaning of Hughes’ poems to finding a more interpretive meaning. However, I have found Hughes’ writing to be very genuine, easily relatable, and representative of the race. I can see why Langston Hughes was one of the most influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
6 comments:
I love the musical aspects of his poetry. While all poems have their own rhythm the connections are so very evident in Hughes poems.
I liked when you said "I have difficulty moving beyond the literal meaning of Hughes’ poems to finding a more interpretive meaning." I think this is a gerat point. Hughes is easy to read and understand what he is trying to convey literally, but it can be difficult to interpret what he is saying and why he is saying it. he uses many poetic devices, musicial tones, to convey messages that you many not pick up in the first reading, until you break stanzas up and find similarities in his poems that will uncover the true meaning of the poem.
the music helped shape hughes work apparently and allowed him to keep positive tones flowing.. he probably really enjyoed jazz for it to be sucha poositive influence.
in the racial mountain essay.. hughes had a powerful message that we would not have gotten from his simpler poems if we had not read this. it makes sucha difference to understand a poet as a person before or during your reading of their poetry. the music keeps him calm though and not so crazy ay?
Cullen was pretty terrible compared to this stuff, but we still appreciate his contribution espcially in contrast to hughes. good job in comparing.
Hughes does seem to really value music especially jazz. After reading his poems out loud I realized this connection more than before. His work really flows musically.
I thought this was interesting too. I really hadn't see the connection until we actually listened to the music in class and then it seemed so obvious as we were reading the poems. I think it is interesting that he incorporated music into his poems in such a way.
I like the aspects of music that show up in his poems because i like the jazz and blues music during the 1920's.I agree with you that he is very talented in the way that he incorporates the jazz and blues in the tone of his music.I can definitly see how hughes is a very important poet in the 1920's.
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