Langston Hughes Essays and Term Papers
Last update: July 18, 2014-
Langston Hughes
Early Years James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, to James Nathaniel Hughes, a lawyer and businessman, and Carrie Mercer (Langston) Hughes, a teacher. The couple separated shortly thereafter. James Hughes was, by his son's account, a cold man who hated blacks (and hated himself for being one), feeling that most of them deserved their ill fortune because of what he considered their ignorance and laziness. Langston's youthful visits
Rating:Essay Length: 976 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: December 10, 2009 -
Langston Hughes Contribution
Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He wanted American to see the conditions that many African Americans were living in. To do so, he wrote 15 volumes
Rating:Essay Length: 971 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: December 12, 2009 -
Identity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes
Search for Identity in the Poetry of Langston Hughes In exploring the problem of identity in Black literature we find no simple or definite explanation. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that it is rooted in the reality of the discriminatory social system in America with its historic origins in the institution of slavery. One can discern that this slavery system imposes a double burden on the Negro through severe social and economic inequalities and through
Rating:Essay Length: 2,609 Words / 11 PagesSubmitted: December 14, 2009 -
Langston Hughes
Abstract Langston Hughes is perhaps one of the most significant African-American writers of his time because his poetry and prose spoke to a wide audience. It explains that another aspect of Hughes' popularity was his ability to focus on black music, such as jazz and the blues; his racial protest; and poems of that affirmed the African American experience. It shows how through these three core ideas, Hughes is able to successfully relate the positive
Rating:Essay Length: 833 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: December 20, 2009 -
Langston Hughes - Theme Analysis
Langston Hughes’s stories deal with and serve as a commentary of conditions befalling African Americans during the Depression Era. As Ostrom explains, “To a great degree, his stories speak for those who are disenfranchised, cheated, abused, or ignored because of race or class.” (51) Hughes’s stories speak of the downtrodden African-Americans neglected and overlooked by a prejudiced society. The recurring theme of powerlessness leads to violence is exemplified by the actions of Sargeant in
Rating:Essay Length: 842 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: December 24, 2009 -
Langston Hughes Imagery Soull Gone Home
Langston Hughes uses subtle yet powerful imagery to illustrate the plight of a black family in a white dominated society in his one-act play “Soul Gone Home”. The pennies on Ronnie’s eyes mentioned at the beginning and end of the play refer to an ancient custom and also to the poverty that can blind one in a capitalist world. Wealth is only mentioned in a monetary sense, “When I had money, ain’t I fed you?”
Rating:Essay Length: 292 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: December 24, 2009 -
Langston Hughes' Influence on American Literature
Langston Hughes was one of the great writers of his time. He was named the “most renowned African American poet of the 20th century” (McLaren). Through his writing he made many contributions to following generations by writing about African American issues in creative ways including the use of blues and jazz. Langston Hughes captured the scene of Harlem life in the early 20th century significantly influencing American Literature. He once explained that his writing
Rating:Essay Length: 720 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 9, 2010 -
Langston Hughes - Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes starts this poem off with a very strong statement: “I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.” This is telling you that he has been around along time and has seen many things. He also seemed to be comparing the flow of the river of that with the blood flowing throughout the human body’s veins. In some way he is
Rating:Essay Length: 552 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 12, 2010 -
Harlem by Langston Hughes
Throughout life, people are always deciding what to do with themselves. But along with what they want to do with their life, they always have that certain dream that they hope to accomplish. Not to say that it is to be rich, cause that is probably a lot of people’s dream, which is why we have the lottery. But it is that certain dream that in the future the person will be happy that they
Rating:Essay Length: 683 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 15, 2010 -
Langston Hughes Let America Be America Again
Politics in Verse Langston Hughes knew the meaning of adversity firsthand. As a black man living in the early twentieth century, he encountered many different struggles on a daily basis. Though he could have easily become jaded by this, he instead strived to overcome and led others to do the same through his contributions to the literary world (Michaels). A prime example of one of his motivational works is Let America Be America Again. His
Rating:Essay Length: 610 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 18, 2010 -
Langston Hughes
James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin , Missouri . His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico . He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln , Illinois , to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland , Ohio . It was in Lincoln , Illinois , that Hughes began
Rating:Essay Length: 698 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: January 19, 2010 -
Langston Hughes - Theme for English B
Langston Hughes’ “Theme for English B,” is based on an assignment given to him by his english instructor at his college. He only has to write a page of whatever he wants and whatever he writes his true. Hughes takes it to a new level of intimacy by letting us get a glimpse of how he perceives life or what he believes to be true about life. He starts by talking about how he grew
Rating:Essay Length: 453 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 20, 2010 -
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes is considered by many to be the most influential writer to come out of the Harlem Renaissance. He became famous for the themes he chose to write about. In the poems Negro, Lament over Love, Me and the Mule, and Let America be America Again, Langston Hughes used the themes of freedom versus authority, society, and the life of African Americans as a reflection of popular culture during the Harlem Renaissance. One of
Rating:Essay Length: 304 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: January 27, 2010 -
Langston Hughes
People always listen to music, watch movies or plays, and even read poetry without once even thinking what is could be that helps and artist eventually create a masterpiece. Often times, it is assumed that artists just have a “gift”, and people just do not consider the circumstances and situations that gradually mold a dormant idea into a polished reality. This seems to be the case with nearly every famous actor, writer, painter, or
Rating:Essay Length: 1,474 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: February 10, 2010 -
Langston Hughes
“Langston Hughes” Langston Hughes was the greatest poet in the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes may have even been the greatest poets ever to grace the face of the Earth. He had pure writing talent. He was a very smart man. He knew exactly what he was talking about and how he wanted his works to be portrayed. Hughes grew up in a rough setting, but overcame the odds. Hughes was born James Mercer Langston Hughes
Rating:Essay Length: 1,431 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: February 11, 2010 -
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes had many influences in his life that is reflected in his work. Every author has a muse for hisher writings because heshe is inspired differently by a number of things. Influence and inspiration are relatively the same, they both affect a person. How that person is affected is the way heshe perceives and feels about it. Hughes was influenced by several things. One of which was a famous poet named Walt Whitman. Other
Rating:Essay Length: 2,205 Words / 9 PagesSubmitted: February 13, 2010 -
Salvation - Langston Hughes
"Salvation", Langston Hughes Langston Hughes paints a picture of himself as a little boy whose decisions at a church revival directly reflect mans own instinctive behavioral tendencies for obedience. A young Langston whose congregation wants him to go up and get saved, gives into obedience and ventures to the altar as if he has seen the light of the Holy Spirit. Hughes goes on to say: " So I decided that maybe to save further
Rating:Essay Length: 445 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: February 21, 2010 -
Langston Hughes
The tone of Langston Hughes’ “ I, Too” is crucial when reading this form of lyrical poetry. Langston Hughes did a lot of his writing during the Harlem Renaissance era, which was during the 1920s in Harlem, New York. There is a harsh but liberating that evokes one man’s stance in his quest to be respected in America in the poem “I Too”. In The Poem “I, Too” Langston Hughes uses racial issues to discuss
Rating:Essay Length: 414 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 1, 2010 -
Langston Hughes and Jesse B. Simple
“Lansgton Hughes and Jesse B. Semple” In the early 1940s an African American writer by the name of Langston Hughes, who flourished during the Harlem Renaissance in New York, had established a character in his short story writings named Jesse B. Semple. Through these short stories he used this character to represent the black man of his times. However the question remains, is Jesse B. Semple an accurate representation of the black man of 1940s?
Rating:Essay Length: 1,077 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: March 4, 2010 -
Langston Hughes and Bob Dylan
Literature and Composition II Langston Hughes and Bob Dylan Langston Hughes and Bob Dylan are two poets from different eras in modern American poetry. Although Bob Dylan is more characterized as a songwriter, I see much of his work as poetry. In this essay, I will discuss Hughes’ poem “Harlem [1]” and Dylan’s “Times They Are A-Changin”’ as commentaries on are culture, but from different backgrounds. Both poets use social protest to make their points.
Rating:Essay Length: 994 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: March 9, 2010 -
The Hard Knock Life for Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes is often considered a voice of the African-American people and a prime example of the Harlem Renaissance. His writing does symbolize these titles, but the concept of Langston Hughes that portrays a black man's rise to poetic greatness from the depths of poverty and repression are largely exaggerated. America frequently confuses the ideas of segregation, suppression, and struggle associated with African-American history and imposes these ideas onto the stories of many black historical
Rating:Essay Length: 959 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: March 9, 2010 -
Salvation (langston Hughes)
Saved From Innocence In most people’s lives, there comes a point in time where their perception changes abruptly; a single moment in their life when they come to a sudden realization. In Langston Hughes’ “Salvation”, contrary to all expectations, a young Hughes is not saved by Jesus, but is saved from his own innocence. “Salvation” is the story of a young boy who has an experience of revelation. While attending a church revival, he comes
Rating:Essay Length: 650 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: March 15, 2010 -
Langston Hughes - a Deferred Dream
In a journey through life, people have certain expectations of how they would like to live their lives. Most citizens of modern society strive to reach a certain level of success and acceptance. It could thus be said that we likely have a dream we hope to achieve. In "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)", Langston Hughes makes use of powerful sensory imagery, figures of speech, and rhyme to show the emotions created when a dream is
Rating:Essay Length: 462 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 24, 2010 -
A Critical Response to Langston Hughes' Salvation
A Critical Response to Langston Hughes' Salvation In Langston Hughes' Salvation, Hughes illustrates himself as a little boy, who's decisions at a church one morning, reflect the human races instinctive tendency to conform and in a sense, obey. That morning in church, Hughes is indirectly pressured to go up to the altar and “be saved” by seeing the light of god. Hughes was a young and impressionable boy who wanted “salvation” and to see Jesus
Rating:Essay Length: 384 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 26, 2010 -
Langston Hughes’s Life Influences
James Mercer Langston Hughes, also known as Langston Hughes was an African American writer who wrote various works, including poetry, novels, newspaper articles, and playwrights. He was born to the father and mother of James Nathaniel and Carrie Langston Hughes in Joplin, Missouri. His father later abandoned the marriage and left him and his mother for Cuba and Mexico, however later on, he was sent to his grandmother to be raised during his childhood life.
Rating:Essay Length: 362 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: March 29, 2010