langston hughes
In 1902, Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. He grew up in many different places such as Kansas, Illinois, and Ohio. His birth given name was James Mercer Langston Hughes. Later he dropped the first two names. Mary Patterson Leary Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes, Langston's mother, was a schoolteacher. Langston's father, James Nathaniel Langston Hughes, was never around. Langston mainly lived with his mother. When Langston was very young his parents separated, and his grandmother took care of him. Langston wrote his first poem in eighth-grade. Some of his influences included Vachel Lindsay, Paul Dunbar, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg. He combined their dialects to create his own unique style. His first poem was read at his grammar school graduation. Langston went to New York in 1921 to attend Columbia University. He stayed for only one year. Then he left to see the world. When he left New York Harbor, he threw all his books, which he had been studying, overboard. Langston went to Europe and Africa. "His exposure to blues and jazz in Europe and Africa
From 1919-1929 there was a movement called the Harlem Renaissance. "Langston's best known literary exponents were during the Harlem Renaissance"(Rollock, Barbara, 295). During the Second World War Langston was a member of The Music War Board, The Theatre Wing of the New York Stage Door Canteen, and The Writers War Board. In 1952, he published a collection of twenty-four short stories called "Laughing to Keep from Crying". " His writings were spontaneous art which stood or fell by the sureness of his intuition, and his mother's wit"(Kunitz, Stanley, 467). The poems I selected from Lanston Hughes are out of a book called Selected Poems of Langston Hughes. I also read several poems out of the Elements of Literature book. The ten poems I picked are: "Harlem", "I Too", "The Weary Blues", "Mother to Son", "The Negro Mother", "Africa", "Troubled Woman", "To be Somebody", "Magnolia Flowers", and "Negro". These poems are ones that I felt he was influenced to write. Coming from such influences as, the Harlem Renaissance or his over seas influences. In "Harlem" it seems Langston is very angry at the worl
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Approximate Word count = 751
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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