Langston Hughes had a five-decade career in which he wrote short stories, poems, plays, books for children, as well as newspaper columns, and novels. He is considered today as one of the, if not the, most important writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Read more about Langston Hughes.
‘Harlem (A Dream Deferred)’ by Langston Hughes is a powerful poem. The poet wrote it in response to what he felt as a black man navigating a career and personal life in a white-dominated world.
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
‘Suicide’s Note’ is a three-line poem that speaks from the perspective of someone who wants to take their own life. They feel the “cool face” of the river asking them for a “kiss.”
The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
‘Dream Variations’ by Langston Hughes details two slightly different dreams a Black speaker has as he is confronted with the “white day.”
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
‘To a Dead Friend’ by Langston Hughes is a depressing poem about the ways death can permanently alter one’s ability to see or feel joy.
The moon still sends its mellow light
Through the purple blackness of the night;
The morning star is palely bright
Before the dawn.
’50-50’ by Langston Hughes contains a dialogue between a man and a woman. The woman is looking for a partner and the man is telling her, rudely, how to acquire him as one.
I'm all alone in this world, she said,
Ain't got nobody to share my bed,
Ain't got nobody to hold my hand-
‘As I Grew Older’ by Langston Hughes is about breaking through the “wall” that racism constructs. The speaker, a Black man from the African American community, spends the poem discussing the light of forgotten dreams he’s newly determined to attain.
It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
‘Cross’ by Langston Hughes uses a stereotypical image of a biracial man to explore identity and the inequalites one might encounter.
My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
Music is a powerful tool to bring harmony even in the cacophonic world, filled with inequality, injustice, and racial discrimination. In ‘Daybreak in Alabama,’ Langston Hughes tries to create a harmonious world by creating music of equality and brotherhood.
When I get to be a colored composer
I'm gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.
‘Dream Boogie’ by Langston Hughes is a poem about jazz, creativity, and the oppression of Black Americans. It was written during the Harlem Renaissance.
Good morning daddy!
Ain't you heard
The boogie-woogie rumble
Of a dream deferred?
‘Dreams’ is a two-stanza poem that highlights the value of “dreams” by presenting two situations that revolve around the loss of those “dreams.”
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
‘I Dream A World’ by Langston Hughes is a powerful, short poem that outlines the poet’s vision of a utopian world. There, no one is judged on the color of their skin and all people have access to the same freedoms.
I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
Langston Hughes’ poem ‘I, Too, Sing America’ is an incredibly personal poem Hughes wrote, highlighting American Society and a Black man’s experience in it.
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
This is for the kids who die,
Black and white,
For kids will die certainly.
The old and rich will live on awhile,
‘Let America Be America Again’ by Langston Hughes is concerned with the modern United States. Hughes discusses the nature of dreams and who gets to have them come true.
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
‘Life is Fine’ by Langston Hughes is a playful ditty. The poem is about a man who is suffering and contemplating suicide but is still able to see the beauty in life.
I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.
‘Mother to Son’ by Langston Hughes uses the metaphor of a staircase to depict the difficulties and dangers one will face in life.
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
‘My People’ by Langston Hughes is a passionate and celebratory poem. In it, Hughes’ speaker focuses on the diverse lives of people in his community.
Dream-singers,
Story-tellers,
Dancers,
Loud laughers in the hands of Fate—
Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree.
‘Still here’ by Langston Hughes is a poem that is grounded in varying grammar concepts to indicate weariness through struggle and clarity after the struggle concludes.
I been scared and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,
‘The Ballad of the Landlord’ is a poem that explores the relationship between a Black tenant and his white landlord. The latter refuses to fulfill his duties and the former ends up in jail.
Landlord, landlord,
My roof has sprung a leak.
Don't you 'member I told you about it
Way last week?
Children, I come back today
To tell you a story of the long dark way
That I had to climb, that I had to know
In order that the race might live and grow.
’The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ is about a man who has seen the great ages of the world alongside the banks of the most important rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
‘Theme for English B’ is one of Langston Hughes’ best-known poems. It delves into themes of identity and race through the depiction of a black man’s writing assignment.
I wonder if it’s that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
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