Product Description

The appearance in 1926 of Langston Hughes's first volume of poems, The Weary Blues, announced the arrival on the American literary scene not only of a new voice and tone, but also of a new sort of voice. Close to the rhythms of Negro speech and song, these apparently artless verses -- which, of course, in reality proclaim a poet of sophistication and keen sensibility -- brought to many readers throughout the English-speaking world a new enjoyment of the multifarious voices of Harlem and the other places where Negroes live in large numbers. Since The Weary Blues, Langston Hughes -- to mention only his verse -- has published Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), The Dream Keeper (1932), Shakespeare in Harlem (1942), Fields of Wonder (1947), One Way Ticket (1949), Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951), Ask Your Mama (1961), and The Panther and the Lash (1967).

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes represents Langston Hughes's own decisions as to which of his poems he most wanted to preserve and reprint. It contains not only selections from his published books (including private publication), but also poems that either had never been published before or had appeared only in periodicals.

Here are reflected the rhythms of jazz, the blues, and spirituals. Arna Bontemps has called Langston Hughes the "original jazz poet," and it is worth noting that Hughes in his last years often read his poetry to jazz accompaniment. But there is more in these poems than jazz, its rhythms and its significance. Here, too, are the travail, the joys and accomplishments, the wide-eyed wonder and bitter realizations of a transplanted race. Here, most important of all, are the affirmations and speech of a true poet. Primarily a lyricist, Langston Hughes learned how to speak with intensity of the things that mattered to him, the human factors that he understood and appreciated, whether in praise, in condemnation, or in sheer song.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1177366 in Books
• Published on: 1974-04-12
• Released on: 1974-04-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 297 pages

Review
125th Street
50-50
Advice
Africa
Afro-american Fragment
American Heartbreak
Angels Wings
Ardella
Argument
As Befits A Man
As I Grew Older
Aunt Sue's Stories
Bad Luck Card
Bad Morning
Ballad Of A Man Who's Gone
Ballad Of The Fortune Teller
Ballad Of The Girl Whose Name Is Mud
Ballad Of The Gypsy
Ballad Of The Landlord
Bar
Be-bop Boys
Beale Street
Black Maria
A Black Pierrot
Blue Bayou
Blue Monday
Blues At Dawn
Boogie: 1 A.m.
Border Line
Bound No'th Blues
Brothers
Buddy
Cafe: 3 A.m.
Casualty
Catch
Children's Rhymes (1)
Chord
College Formal: Renaissance Casino
Comment On Curb
Consider Me
Cora
Corner Meeting
Could Be
Croon
Cross
Crossing
Dancer
Danse Africaine
Daybreak In Alabama
Dead In There
Deferred
Delinquent
Demand
Democracy
Desert
Desire
Dime
Dive
Down And Out
Dream
Dream Boogie
Dream Boogie: Variation
Dream Dust
Dream Variations [or, Variation]
Drum
Drunkard
Early Evening Quarrel
Easy Boogie
Elevator Boy
End
Ennui
Evening Song
Evil
Fact
Fantasy In Purple
Feet O' Jesus
Final Curve
Fire
Fired
Flatted Fifths
Freedom Train
Freedom's Plow
Fulfilment
Garden
Gauge
Genius Child
Georgia Dusk
Gone Boy
Good Morning
Graduation
Green Memory
Gypsy Melodies
Hard Daddy
Harlem
Harlem Night Song
Havana Dreams
Heaven
High To Low
Homecoming
Hope
Hope
A House In Taos
I, Too
In Explanation Of Our Times
In Time Of Silver Rain
Interne At Provident
Island (1)
Island (2)
Jam Session
Joe Louis
Joy
Judgment Day
Juke Box Love Song
Juliet
Kid In The Park
Kid Sleepy
Ku Klux
Lady's Boogie
Late Last Night
Letter
Life Is Fine
Likewise
Litany
Little Green Tree
Little Lyric (of Great Importance)
Live And Let Live
Long Trip
Love
Lover's Return
Low To High
Luck
Lunch In A Jim Crow Car
Madam And Her Madam
Madam And Her Might-have-been
Madam And The Census Man
Madam And The Charity Child
Madam And The Fortune Teller
Madam And The Minister
Madam And The Number Writer
Madam And The Phone Bill
Madam And The Rent Man
Madam And The Wrong Visitor
Madam's Calling Cards
Madam's Past History
Magnolia Flowers
Mama And Daughter
March Moon
Maybe
Me And The Mule
Mellow
Merry-go-round
Mexican Market Woman
Midnight Dancer: To A Balck Dancer In The Little Savoy
Midnight Raffle
Midwinter Blues
Migrant
Misery
Miss Blues'es Child
Monroe's Blues
Moonlight Night: Carmel
Morning After
Mother To Son
Motto
Movies
Mulatto
My People
Mystery
Natcha
Necessity
Negro
The Negro Mother
The Negro Speaks Of Rivers
Neighbor
Neon Signs
New Yorkers
Night Funeral In Harlem
Night: Four Songs
Nightmare Boogie
No Regrets
Not A Movie
Note On Commercial Theatre
Numbers
October 16: The Raid
Old Walt
One
One-way Ticket
Parade
Passing
Personal
Port Town
Porter
Prayer
Prayer Meeting
Preference
Projection
Puzzled
Question (2)
Railroad Avenue
Refugee In America
Relief
Request
Reverie On The Harlem River
Roland Hayes Beaten (georgia: 1942)
Ruby Brown
S-sss-ss-sh
Same In Blues
Sea Calm
Seascape
Shame On You
Share-croppers
Shout
Sinner
Sister
Situation
Sliver
Sliver Of Sermon
Snail
So Long
Song For A Dark Girl
Song For Billie Holiday
The South
Southern Mammy Sings
Spirituals
Stars
Still Here
Stony Lonesome
Strange Hurt [she Knows]
Street Song
Subway Rush Hour
Suicide's Note
Summer Evening
Sun Song
Sunday By The Combination
Sunday Morning Prophecy
Sylvester's Dying Bed
Tag
Tambourines
Tell Me
Testimonial
Theme For English B
Third Degree
Three Songs About Lynching: Silhouette
To Artina
To Be Somebody
Tomorrow
Troubled Woman
Trumpet Player
Ultimatum
Uncle Tom
Up-beat
Vagabonds
Wake
Warning
Warning: Augmented
Water-front Streets
The Weary Blues
West Texas
What?
What? So Soon!
When Sue Wears Red
Who But The Lord?
Widow Woman
Wine-o
Winter Moon
Wonder
World War Ii
Young Gal's Blues
Young Sailor
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

From the Inside Flap
With the publication of his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America.  The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night."  They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture.  They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life."

The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America."  It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

About the Author
was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902. After graduation from high school, he spent a year in Mexico with his father, then a year studying at Columbia University. His first poem in a nationally known magazine was "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which appeared in Crisis in 1921. In 1925, he was awarded the First Prize for Poetry of the magazine Opportunity, the winning poem being "The Weary Blues," which gave its title to his first book of poems, published in 1926. As a result of his poetry, Mr. Hughes received a scholarship at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he won his B.A. in 1929. In 1943, he was awarded an honorary Litt.D. by his alma mater; he has also been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (1935) and a Rosenwald Fellowship (1940). From 1926 until his death in 1967, Langston Hughes devoted his time to writing and lecturing. He wrote poetry, short stories, autobiography, song lyrics, essays, humor, and plays; a cross-section of his work was published in 1958 as The Langston Hughes Reader.

Customer Reviews

Hughes is Pure
I had read several Hughes poems before buying this book, but I will admit that I had no grasp on the extent of his talent. These vivid poems were chosen by Hughes personally before his death in 1967.

They do so well to paint a picture of the time he lived -- of the blues, of love, of passion, of choices. He writes about faith and protest in a way that will move you.

I have read all of the poems exactly as they are placed in the book several times. I think I keep going back to them because this is poetry free of pretense -- it is grounded in reality and in sorrow.

Independent of age, of your ethnicity, and of your literary grasp, you will enjoy these poems. Simple and superb -- read them out loud.

He, too, sang America
"Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" is a rich selection from several decades of this poet's work. Hughes (1902-1967) is a poet of many moods and voices. His work is at times mournful, humorous, sensuous, or ironic. Many poems capture the rhythms of African-American vernacular speech. A number of narrative poems tell stories of Black life, and a number of his best poems feature female speakers. He also writes poems of social protest that deal with the anti-Black violence that has plagued the United States for so much of its history.

The poems in this book are divided into several sections. One of my favorite such sections, "Feet of Jesus," contains poems which evoke the prayers, preaching, and religious songs of African-American churches. "Madam to You" contains a number of poems in which Alberta K. Johnson tells her story. A strong-willed entrepreneur who often challenges authority figures, "Madam" is one of the most delightful characters in African-American literature.

The other sections of the book contain many of Hughes' most memorable poems: the sensuous "Midnight Dancer" ("Lips / Sweet as purple dew"), "Mother to Son" ("Life for me ain't been no crystal stair"), "Theme for English B" ("I am the only colored student in my class"), and "I, Too" ("I, too, sing America. / I am the darker brother").

The lines I quoted from "I, Too" may call to mind Walt Whitman's great American poem "Leaves of Grass." Indeed, I consider Hughes to be one of the great 20th century poetic heirs of Whitman, and "Selected Poems" is a magnificent testament to Hughes' passion and vision.

Dreams Deferred
Langston Hughes wrote poetry of exquisite pain and beauty throughout his life. His poetry can be sparse and rhythmic. It evinces visions of cities, the south, churches and deep muddy rivers.

Hughes touches on every subject important to life in 20th century America: family, friends, race, religion,love, music, prejudice and poverty. Each poem sparingly provides an image in words. Together these poems represent the great work of a true artist of the American Poetry.

One of his most popular and poignant poems is Harlem. It contains such beauty in his phrase - "a dream deferred" and such power in his words or does it explode?

I recommend this highly to anyone interested in modern poets and poetry.