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Sample essay topic, essay writing: Langston Hughes - 1319 words

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Langston Hughes is considered by many readers to be the most significant black poet of the twentieth century. He is described as ^3..the beloved author of poems steeped in the richness of African American culture, poems that exude Hughes^1s affection for black Americans across all divisions of region, class, and gender.^2 (Rampersad 3) His writing was both depressing and uplifting at times. His poetry, spanning five decades from 1926 to 1967, reflected the changing black experience in America, from the Harlem Renaissance to the turbulent sixties. At the beginning of his career, he was surrounded by the Harlem Renaissance. New York City in the 1920^1s was a place of immense growth and richness in African-American culture and art.

For Hughes, this was the perfect opportunity to establish his poems. His early work reflects the happy times of the era. However, as time progressed he became increasingly bitter and upset over race relations. Except for a few examples, all his poems from this later period spoke about social injustice in America. The somber tone of his writing often reflected his mood. Race relations was the shadow of his career, following him from his first poem to his last

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The tone and subject matter of Hughes^1s poetry can be linked to certain points in history, and his life. The youth of Hughes is brought out by his poem ^3Harlem Night Club^2, a piece which describes living in the moment. Often children do not consider the consequences of their actions; they act on instinct and desire. Hughes might have been 27 when he wrote this poem, but the feisty, upbeat tempo of a school boy is present in his style. ^3Harlem Night Club^2 is unique in that it describes the integration of blacks and whites in an optimistic tone.

The vigor and spirit of his youth is reflected in the energy of the writing, ^3Jazz-band, jazz-band,- / Play, plAY, PLAY! / Tomorrow...who knows? / Dance today!^2 The repetition of the words, and the increasing emphasis on the word ^3play^2 bring out the excitement to the reader. More evidence of Hughes^1s youth comes from the very focus of the poem: the interracial couples. The entire poem can be summed up as ^3..a single-glance tableau of interracial flirtation against a background of heady jazz.^2 (Emanuel 120) This festive relationship between the two sexes can rarely be seen in any of Hughes^1s later poems. At this point in his life, Hughes was enjoying the culture and excitement of the Harlem renaissance. It was an amazing period in New York for African Americans, the first real large scale expression of their culture.

Jazz was a flourishing art form that Hughes often liked to write about. It is easy to see why most of his poems of this period (1921-1930) would be festive and cheerful. Unfortunately, the party didn^1t last into the next decade and the country fell into a deep depression. The period between 1931 and 1940 was a dark period for Hughes, and for African-Americans in general. On top of the financial difficulties the depression brought, widespread racism re-surfaced in the North. The celebration in Harlem was replaced by angry whites who were anxious to put blame on someone for their troubles.

^3White Man^2 is a direct attack on the white man^1s violations against the African-Americans. Like the earlier poem ^3Harlem Night Club,^2 it is a fast-paced, dynamic piece. However, its tone reflects pure anger and frustration. ^3White Man! White Man! / Let Louis Armstrong play it- / And you copyright it / And make the money. / You^1re the smart guy, White Man! / You got everything!^2 Its intensity makes the reader frantic just from reading it. The line about Louis Armstrong refers to the great jazz trumpet player, the first black man to be recognized as a successful jazz artist by a white audience.

Only now, ten years later, we see that it is the whites who profit from his talent. Hughes is desperate not to forget the accomplishments of the 20^1s, and not to let those accomplishments get taken away by greedy white businessmen. Another attack on the white world comes in his piece ^3Ballad of Roosevelt^2. Roosevelt is thought of as one of the country^1s greatest leaders, a wonderful humanitarian. But in this poem Hughes reminds us that he did not always come through with his promises. The poem is written in rhyme and has a flowing, nursery-rhyme feel. There is a chorus of three lines that repeats after every stanza.

In each verse, Hughes states a problem such as lack of food, lack of medical attention, lack of money, etc... And after each problem he says ^3I^1m waitin^1 on Roosevelt, son, / Roosevelt, Roosevelt, / Waitin^1 on Roosevelt, son.^2 The many impoverished black families in New York believed in the promises of Roosevelt and trusted that things would get better. But in Hughes^1s poem, the family loses their house, cannot find a job, and is left abandoned and hungry. It represents yet another case of whites letting blacks down. This poem shows the growing bitterness in Hughes^1s life. Surely the piece is based on the many black families in Harlem that lost their houses, jobs and self-respect.

Through his writing, he vented his anger. ^3Third Degree^2 is a cry against the corrupt justice system in the 1940^1s. The poem is a speech made by a black defendant, who is arguing to a white jury. The term third degree has a double meaning, referring to both the third degree murder sentence, and also third degree burns. The shame and anger that the defendant feels can be compared to the blistering pain of a third degree burn.

He won^1t admit to a crime he did not commit. The comparison of shame to a painful burn is most apparent in the last stanza, ^3When you throw / Cold water on me, / I^1ll sign the / Paper..^2 Only if the white jury can end the burning shame he feels, will he admit to the crime he did not commit. Corrupt trials such as this were common in the South during this time. Hughes makes sure that the atrocities don^1t go unnoticed. For Hughes, it would appear that his life ended on a dejected note.

Before his death in May of 1967, he wrote his final poem ^3Flotsam^2. The title suggests that Hughes considers himself forgotten wreckage, and all his writing is wasted and forgotten. Its tone reeks of depression and self-pity, ^3On the shoals of Nowhere, / Wasted - my song - / Yet taken by the sea wind / And blown along.^2 Unfortunately, Hughes died feeling as though his writing did not help his race, and that his legacy was to be forgotten. For his entire life he had been writing about racism, slavery, and inequality. And yet in this final poem, even after the civil rights movement had peaked, Hughes is left feeling worthless. The bitterness he faced during his lifetime built up to a dull apathy that appears in this piece.

Despite the fact that Hughes is ^3..among the most eloquent American poets to have sung about the wounds caused by injustice^2 (Rampersad 3), he thought his poems made no impact on society. On the contrary, Hughes^1s poems had a tremendous influence on African-American society. Although scholars and critics throughout his career dismissed his poetry as too ^3simple and unlearned,^2 his primary audience, the black masses, and even Hughes himself viewed his work as ^3folk poetry^2 which was beneath criticism. (Rampersad 4-5) His poems, when studied as a collection over the span of his life, clearly show how the tone and emphasis in the writing reflect the mood of Hughes himself as he grew old. The universal theme of racism and race relations defined all the important work of Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes Danny Belinkie December 23, 1999 Period 2 Works Cited Emanuel, James. Langston Hughes. Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1967. Arnold Rampersad. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes.

Vintage Classics, New York, 1994.

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