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Feb 1, 1902- May 22, 1967
Langston Hughes published his first poem “The Negro Speaks
of Rivers” in 1921. Hughes has quite an impressive resume. He wrote 20 plays, several non-fiction and children's books, novels, 10 short
stories, operettas, scripts, song lyrics and newspaper columns. He was a social activist. Hughes was
one of the earliest innovators of the then new literary art form jazz poetry.
He is known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. ,
Hughes was probably the foremost poet among African
Americans. His poetry earned him the title America’s Black Poet Laureate. His
importance later for African-American literature has been immense. He sought
not only to sing of Black America in his poems, but to do it in everyday
language. Hughes was of the first and most successful writers to incorporate
African-American musical traditions like jazz, blues and spirituals into
literature.
In 2002 on the 100 celebration of his birth date, United
States issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor.
I found it difficult to choose a favorite poem because there
are so many of his poems I have come to appreciate over the years. This book of
poems by Langston Hughes is one of my favorites.
Many of Hughes’s best early poems explore the nature of and
the beauty in the African element of African-American identity.
My People
The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my
people.
The stars are
beautiful,
So the eyes of my
people.
Beautiful, also,
is the sun.
Beautiful,also are
the souls of my people.
Dreams are a recurring theme in Hughes’s work. For Hughes,
poets are not just dreamers, but dream keepers for their people.
The Dream Keeper
Bring me all of your
dreams,
You dreamers,
Bring me all of your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the
too-rough fingers
Of the world.
| Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.” | |
Langston Hughes
Another thought for the day: 
Life is where What If runs away with Why Not
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