Langston Hughes

(If you have not read the Representations – Introduction yet, click here.)

Langston Hughes poetry in the 20’s

In this part of my essay I will make use of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (edited by Rampersad 1994), and I will focus on his poems about Harlem written during the 1920s, the peak of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of Hughes’ poems are influenced by the contemporary music movements, and many of them are written with the patterns of jazz and blues in mind.

Hughes' Harlem is full of life. Everything evolves around the jazz clubs and the rest of the hectic nightlife, as in the poem Harlem Night Club, where everyone, no matter the color of their skin, is enjoying themselves:

Langston Hughes

“White girls’ eyes
Call gay black boys.
Black boys’ lips
Grin jungle joys.

Dark brown girls
In blond men’s arms.
Jazz-band, jazz-band, -
Sing Eve’s charms!”

Picture taken from
American Collection Educators' Site

Nevertheless, not everything looks bright. The end of the poem reminds us about tomorrow:

“Tomorrow…. is darkness.
Joy today!”

(Rampersad 1994: 90).

Just like Piri Thomas, Hughes seems to be most fascinated by Harlem by night. In his poem Summer Night, he tries to explain the lonely feeling that occurs after the nightlife has died down:

“And the night becomes
Still as a whispering heartbeat.”

The protagonist’s soul is:

“Empty as the silence,
Empty with a vague,
Aching emptiness,
Desiring,
Needing someone,
Something.”

(Rampersad 1994: 59)

Even though most of his poems depict Harlem and its inhabitants in a positive way, he writes about other, less favorable, issues as well. For instance he has written one poem called Young Prostitute, where he describes a girl, whose face:

“Is like a withered flower
On a broken stem.
Those kind come cheap in Harlem
So they say.”

(Rampersad 1994: 33)

I think that Hughes tried to portray his Harlem in positive words and images. He wanted his readers to think of Harlem as a place where every one was alike and at the same time unique. Nevertheless, Hughes has been criticized by some. According to Rampersad, scholar-critics have found his "approach simple and unlearned". Others think that his poetry is "too radical politically, and a kind of affront to their sense of patriotism" (Rampersad 1994: 3). He has also been criticized for giving a wrongly depicted image of Harlem to his readers. Not everything was as bright as he tried to portray it, and even though some of his poems deal with less optimistic issues, the main attitude which he evokes in his readers is that of happiness. It is quite possible that this is due to the fact that it is poetry, and not autobiography that he has written. He has the right to romanticize, which is often the case in poetry. Personally, I feel a little jealous. I would have liked to have the opportunity to spend a night in Hughes' lively Harlem where all the worries seemed to be out of reach.

(It should be mentioned that some of Hughes poems, not dealing directly with Harlem, have a more political message, but here I have focused on those depicting Harlem, and they are all quite joyful.)

Do you want to read some of Hughes' poetry? Click here.

Back to My Own Page

	In the 20's	The modern ghetto
General Background	The Harlem Renaissance	The present day situation
Representation	Langston Hughes	Piri Thomas	Conclusion
Attitudes towards Language	Harlemese	The status of AAVE	Conclusion
Expression through music	Jazz	Rap	Conclusion