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Cameron Dumas
Mrs. Kirschner
English II
17 March 2016
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, and playwright during the early
1900s. Langston wasnt one for just Black rights but for equality for everyone. Langston
Hughes also had a enormous influence on the Black writing community and on poets in
general.
Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902. As a kid he struggled with more
than just family problems he also was deemed to be more feminine which forced his
father to leave due to disgrace. He was forced to live with his grandmother due to his
mothers lack of support. While in Joplin, Missouri he found his passion in school.
Writing! Writing was the key to unleash and reveal all of his pain and agony with a sense
of joy. As Langston grew older he started to write complete stories in class. When he was
just 18 years old his most famous poem was published. The Negro Speaks of Rivers
was written when he went to Mexico to stay with his father. This helped Langston
drastically putting him as a top tier of his graduating class. This poem caught eyes of
many magazines but mainly caught eyes of many colleges. After he spent the year with
his dad he decided to further his education at Columbia University. Hughes did not last a
year at the Columbia University, he dropped out to go on a voyage to fish around the
country to find himself. A year and a half later he returns with a vast amount of stories
and poems written and a monkey. On this voyage he figured that he could only write

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while he was in pain or thinking about his rough past. This technique helped him portray
much more life and emotion. Once he arrived back home he applied to become a bust boy
in a caf in Washington D.C. While bussing tables he would write during his break and
mail them to different magazines to get a reward. Langston was turned down by the first
15 magazines. One day he a man came in to get some coffee and Langston asked if he
could read his poem. The man was very interested and flabbergasted by his work. The
next day Langston showed up to work he was bombarded with the newspaper and press.
When he made it inside he realized that the man he showed his work to wasnt just
anyone, it was a publisher for a famous magazine. Langston was interviewed and his
works were published everywhere making him and his dad very proud. Who was his
inspiration to write these poems were asked to Hughes. He replied Vachel Lindsay
because he was the first writer to open up the pathway for Negro writers. As Langston
became more and more popular around the country he thought that he should expand his
horizon by attending Lincoln University to help him become a better businessman to
broadcast himself. Langston was not one for school so he dropped out after a few
semesters.
When Langston was about 26 he took an excursion to Europe with a group of
young African Americans to learn more about writing and poetry. While in Europe he
learned a lot about Communism and found a liking to the thought of politics. Europe also
aided him with his writing by inserting snippets of Communism thoughts into his works.
A few months later he returned and applied his skills from the trip to his work and
received a vast amount a works from his collection. He was highly praised within the
African American poetry community. These are a couple of his achievements: Anisfield-

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Wolf book Award, NAACP's Springarn Medal for distinguished achievements for by an
African American, Honorary degree by (Lincoln University Howard and Western Reserve
University).
Throughout his adult life he wrote various amounts of books, plays and poem
collections. When Langston turned 30 he wrote his famous novel Not Without Laughter.
This novel was about a young boy in Kansas trying to find his way through a racist and
judgmental world. The book is based on a true story about him as a kid in a small city but
instead of his sexuality problem its a racist. When Langston turned 35 his mother passed
away and to get his mind off of it he wrote a collection of poems The Ways of White
Folks and helped cover the Spanish Civil War with the Afro-American newspaper in
Baltimore.
Langston Hughes collection of poems consists of the following poems: I am a
Negro, The Weary Blues, Note on Commercial Theatre, and The Negro Speaks of
Rivers. His most famous poem is The Negro Speaks of Rivers. This poem is about in
first person about a male that reminisces about his past in Africa and how he still feels
connected to his roots. In the beginning of the poem to display his emotion and
connection to his roots he says, My soul has grown deep like the rivers showing that he
has some evidence of his past. The usage of allusions and hyperboles are effective
because it brings a tone and emotion that he was actually an African Native. The next
poem that helped put Langston on the map is The Weary Blues. The Weary Blues is
about a man walking in bar to hear the jazz music. As he walks in he sees an old African
American playing the Blues on the piano. The man who came to listen found a liking to
the blues. The music took all his pain and worries and flushed them away. At the end of

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the night they old man gets up shuts to piano and walks away. This poem is set in an
earlier time period than the The Negro Speaks of Rivers. The reason this poem sets
itself from the others is because this poem has early 1900s tone. The other two poems are
I am a Negro and Note on Commercial Theatre. I am a Negro is a mixture of
modern racism to the beginning of the Africans arrival in America. This poem was
especially exceptional because of the time period it was written in. It was the time of the
KKK and lynching. During this time poets and artist would utilize art, literature, and
music to voice their opinion safely. This poem is about how African Americans were
treated in the past and how they are treated today. Not on Commercial Theatre is the
last poem and is written about famous plays from the past and music. Langston likes to
utilize music and plays because that was the only way to voice his opinion. Other tactics
Hughes employs are allusions again because that helps the poem have a vintage style to
it.