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The Poetry of Black America "YOUR LAUGHTER and your song, your pity for the human condition, your poetic prophecy, the deep seriousness that pulses through your poems exemplify the ancient Grecian concept of the poet as the shaper and maker of our destinies, pointing the way to that one divine event toward which the whole creation moves: the brotherhood of man. " (Rampersad 364) This was the citation, with which Langston Hudges was awarded his second honorary doctorate by Howard University. One can say that the title The Poetry of Black America sounds a little bit embarrassing. Yet, many monographs and anthologies in America are published under titles, something like Negro Poets and Their Poetry, The Book of American Negro Poetry, American Negro Poetry, to mention a few. Although the epithet African-American is more widely used, the word-phrase African-American singing poet doesnt sound very poetic. Numerous electronic calendars inform that the first African American poet was Jupiter Hammon (1720 - 1806). Other sources claim that the female slave from New England Lucy Terry (1730 - 1821) was the first African American poetess.
The books of the Black South are the considerable part of Black folklore. Their themes and rhythms found their reflection in creative works of numerous African American and white poets of the beginning of the 20 th century. New musical culture of jazz also has in its basis peculiar African American sparkles and tones. The religious hymns of African Americans spirituals gave a wonderful and amazing mixture of African and English-Celtic musical traditions with tones of South European Creole influence. The scientists claim that according to modern researches, we can speak neither about African influence on European culture, not European influence on African culture. We can find the integral artistic synthesis of social and cultural grounds between Southern states with their unique demography and inter-race relations.
Being based on fact, that there was a close contact between neighbor ethnic groups, the closeness of musical development made such interrelation inevitable. The appearance of jazz culture with its rubato, syncope, and swings had great impact on both music and poetry. The XX century was known for its abrupt and sharp intensification of immigration process. African American music and literature brought a note of nostalgia and even envy, because it allowed the Africans to preserve their cultural traditions, music and individuality. African American intelligentsia faced problems of self-identification, self-consciousness, struggle against segregation, the struggle for equal rights as well as for defending their rights for their own place in cultural life of the country, formation of their own subnational culture, the embodiment of inner life of African Americans in the United States (O'Daniel 52). Besides, these problems were faced by many African-Americans and resulted in appearance of such poets as Langston Hudges.
The artistic and intellectual movement took place in New York in 1920 s. The representatives of it called themselves New Negroes and were known as Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hudges was one of the most famous black American poets. Hughes's promotion of black icons in the 1940 s foreshadowed the black aesthetic and the black arts movement of the ' 60 s. The black aesthetic vaporized folk figures and historical icons, derivatives of a cultural nationalism that had its roots in the Harlem Renaissance (McLaren 169) Hudges was born in small town Joplin (Missouri). He is a well-known novelist and playwright, who became one of the foremost interpreters of racial relationships in the United States.
Influenced by the Bible, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Walt Whitman, Hughes depicted realistically the ordinary lives of black people (Langston Hudges, web n. p. ) Hudges mother was a teacher and she always loved poetry.
Probably, it was her who made him loving the fantastic sounds of words and music. When he was young, he traveled a lot. He studied in the Columbia University, worked as a teacher of mathematics in Mexico, worked as a sailor, as a doorman in Parisian night cabaret. He traveled over Spain and Italy. His destiny was changed after he met Vachel Lindsay in Harlem restaurant, where Hudges worked as a busboy. Langston Hudges has shown his short verses to the famous poet.
Vachel Lindsay liked Hudges poetry, and, definitely, it was the start of Hudges literature career (Duffy 39). In 1924, after the period of his travels over the Senegal, Cameroons, Angola, Nigeria, Guines, and Congo, he returned to Harlem, in 1924, the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. During this period, his work was frequently published and his writing flourished (James Langston Hudges, web n. p. ) Hudges had great impact not only on black poetry of the United States, but, moreover, on the whole American literature and music. In 1932 Hudges with small delegation of Negro leaders was invited to the Soviet Union where they planned to make a propaganda movie Red and Black dedicated to future American Revolution. Political conjuncture changed, the film wasnt made but Hudges had a good opportunity to travel over the Soviet country and Asia (Dace 48).
In 1940 the poet published autobiography The Big Sea (1940) and in 15 years another one, I Wonder As I Wander (1956). Hudges wrote and edited several anthologies, such as An African Treasury (1960), Poems from Black Africa (1963), New Negro Poets: USA (1964) and The Best Short Stories by Negro Writers (1967). He tried to popularize African American poetry and the black culture. He also translated the verses by Habriel Mistral and Federico Harris Looks, to mention a few.
He wrote the poems, plays, novels, stories One of his most famous characters was Jess B. Semple (under the nickname Simple). The major part of his poems was published in his first book The Weary Blues. This book assimilated techniques associated with the secular music with verse, while its content reflected the lives of African-Americans (Langston Hudges, web n.
p. ). He has written many books, such as Not Without Laughter (1930), The Big Sea (1940); I Wonder As I Wander" (1956). Hudges collections of poetry are The Weary Blues (1926), The Negro Mother and other Dramatic Recitations (1931), The Dream Keeper (1932), Shakespeare In Harlem (1942), Fields of Wonder (1947), One Way Ticket (1947), The First Book of Jazz (1955), Tambourines To Glory (1958), Selected Poems (1959), The Best of Simple (1961). Many of his collections of poetry are written following the style of blues.
Blues as well as spirituals represent the traditional Negro song form. Yet, blues has more compact and distinct structure. Besides, blues (fm. word blue sad, melancholic) do not represent the traditional Church music. Blues are often empathized by contradictory laughter of grief, which is born where there is no faith and hope (Barksdale 27). The era of Blues as a form of city music takes its origin from the song Saint City Blues composed by the famous Negro musician William Handy.
The theoreticians of jazz culture consider that blues had great influence on formation of jazz esthetics. They claim that Hudges has become the leader of renaissance. Besides, Hudges is also known as the leader of Harlem Renaissance because of his creative works. The musical and literature Negro culture inherited from Hudges not only the mood of melancholy mixed up with laughter, but the most characteristic peculiarities of his works: intonation add-ons, the manner of style, typical rhythmic formulas, to mention a few (Smith, 15). The mixture of blues and verses became the peculiar feature of Hudges poetry.
What is the traditional structure of blues? It usually consists of four short verses, two of which can be repeated several times, sometimes with variations. Yet, there is no canonic structure for blues. Hudges experimented a lot with various modifications of free verses; however, he tried to write in more traditional rhythm form (Jarraway, 14). The theme of liberties and freedoms found reflection in his poetry. Although slavery was abolished, many of his poems were dedicated to African American freedoms, the themes of inequality, racism, dangers, suppression, humiliation (Saul 130), to mention a few.
Besides, all there themes are still valid for the modern African American poetry. Hudges also brought the tendencies of victimization. His works belong to a special cult and have great importance. Black blues and Hudges poetry made me to get acquainted with black music and black culture. Hudges as the leader of Harlem Renaissance is the heart of rock, soul and blues (Witalec, 62). You can find serious tones as well as passion and sense of humor, freedom and nature, the mixture of drama and laughter, as well as slight impressions of eroticism.
He says: the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice' may be true in jazz, but not in prose (Dickinson 15). His characters represent the wide range of people. I couldnt imagine that the verses written by Langston Hudges influenced the whole black culture. Hudges was the heart of narrow circle of progressive Black American cultural leaders. He was a progressive man and an innovator.
As the majority of intellectual representatives of his times he loved his people and their cultural inheritance (Westover, 25). His poems are blues and his blues are the poems. The absolute majority of his works are very interesting for further studying of blues and African American musical culture. No wonder, his poems are very popular among the bluesman, such as Take Mall. IVE known rivers: Ive known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the 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. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and Ive seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
Ive known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers (Langston Hudges, The Negro Speaks of Rivers n. p. ) Hudges literary works provide you with great satisfaction. From the Harlem Renaissance of the early twenties, to the Black Arts reorientation's of the sixties, his short stories, novels, dramas, translations, and seminal anthologies of the works of others at home and abroad helped unify peoples in the African Diaspora. He helped nurture, in other words, so profoundly the generations after him (Tracy 23) The major part of his works is dedicated to African American culture. Probably, the esthetic reason is not so important, because the nostalgia plays more important role.
Hudges wrote the books full of love and ordinary things. He describes the essence of life and turned it into the real African American ode in blues tones. Bibliography: Barksdale, Richard. (1977). LH: The Poet and His Critics.
Chicago: American Library Association Dace, Tish. ed. Langston Hughes: The Contemporary Reviews. NY: Cambridge UP, 1997 Dickinson, D. (1967)... A Bio- Bibliography of Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967.
Archon Books. Hamden, Conn. Duffy, Susan. (2000). The Political Plays of LH. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP James Langston Hudges. Retrieved December 11, 2005.
web Jarraway, David R. (2003). Going the Distance: Dissident Subjectivity in Modernist American Literature. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State UP Langston Hudges. Retrieved December 11, 2005. web Langston Hudges, The Negro Speaks of Rivers McLaren, Joseph. (1997).
Langston Hughes: Folk Dramatist in the Protest Tradition, 1921 - 1943. Greenwood Press. Westport, CT O'Daniel. (1971). Black Genius: A Critical Evaluation.
New York, Morrow Rampersad, Arnold. (2002). The Life of Langston Hughes. Oxford University Press, New York Saul, Scott. (2003). Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP Smith, Katharine C. (2004). Children's Literature of the Harlem Renaissance.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP Tracy, S. (2004). A Historical Guide to Langston Hughes. Oxford University Press, New York Westover, Jeffrey W. The Colonial Moment: Discoveries and Settlements in Modern American Poetry Witalec, Janet. (2002). Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit, MI: Gale
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Research essay sample on The Poetry Of Black America
