Comparing Langston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance

Langston Hughes stands as a towering figure in the landscape of American literature, embodying the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance and leaving an indelible mark on the fabric of cultural and literary history. Born in the early 20th century, Hughes navigated the complexities of African American identity through his prolific output of poetry, plays, and essays. His work, deeply rooted in the African American experience, resonated with themes of racial pride, social injustice, and the universal quest for freedom. As a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes's literary genius not only captured the essence of his era but also laid the groundwork for future generations to explore the rich tapestry of American identity. Langston, born James
For the longest time, many professionals believed he was born in 1902, but according to poets.org, “Hughes’s birth year was revised from 1902 to 1901 after new research from 2018 uncovered that he had been born a year earlier.” Hughes was the only child of his parents who soon split after his birth due to there not being many opportunities for blacks in the U.S. His mother then had to look for work outside of his town of Joplin, which put him in the care of his grandmother. Another interesting fact about Hughes, according to poetreyfoundation.org, “Before he was 12 years old he had lived in six different American cities.” At the age of thirteen, he, his mom, and her new husband had finally settled in Lincoln, Illinois. It was then in Illinois that he began to experiment with poetry. The Harlem Renaissance impacted the way Hughes wrote his
Song for a Dark Girl is about a lover that Hughes had who was hanged due to hate and racism. In this poem, he specifically repeats the phrase “Way down South in Dixie” which after doing some research, I found that ‘South in Dixie’ meant the border where in the south slavery was legal. So taking that new-found knowledge, I’ve made the inference that Hughes had a lover who was a slave in the South and one day they hung them. Now why they hung them is not clear, but based on my previous knowledge of conditions back then, I’d like to infer that his lover tried to escape and got caught. One thing I love is the repetition and some of the phrases he used to convey how he feels about losing a loved one due to racism. On to Fantsy in Purple, this poem also uses heavy repetition of one particular phrase “Beat the drums of tragedy” which knowing that Hughes took inspiration from his own culture and one of the things he liked to write about was music, I’d infer that he is bringing African American music into his poetry since African Americans loved to play drums back then. In this poem, I love his word choice for conveying how he