James Langston Hughes For the CSET

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If you are studying for the CSET Multiple Subject or CSET English exams then you need to know about James Langston Hughes. In this lesson we will first read about James Langston Hughes, watch a few videos, and close the lesson with a reading of two famous Langston poems.

James Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was African American and his first published poem was also one of his most famous The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

He is the poet laureate of the African-American experience — a popular writer of the Harlem Renaissance who gave hopeful expression to the aspirations of the oppressed, even as he decried racism and injustice. In addition to poetry, he published fiction, drama, autobiography, and translations. His work continues to serve as a model of wide empathy and social commitment.

His poems, short plays, essays and short stories appeared in the NAACP publication Crisis Magazine and in Opportunity Magazine and other publications.

One of Hughes’ finest essays appeared in the Nation in 1926, entitled The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. It spoke of Black writers and poets, “who would surrender racial pride in the name of a false integration,” where a talented Black writer would prefer to be considered a poet, not a Black poet, which meant to some that he subconsciously wanted to write like a white poet. Hughes argued, “no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.”

He liked sitting in clubs listening to blues, jazz and writing poetry. Through these experiences a new rhythm emerged in his writing, and a series of poems such as The Weary Blues were penned.

Langston Hughes died of cancer on May 22, 1967. His residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission. His block of East 127th Street was renamed “Langston Hughes Place”.

Notice the metaphor in Dreams, in the first stanza, “Life is a broken-winged bird”.

Notice the metaphor in the second stanza, “Life is a barren field”.

Read this Wikipedia article on Langston Hughes then return to this lesson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes

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