Langston Hughes

The thesis of Langston Hughes's essay entitled "Salvation" is found in the first and last lines of the piece. He begins by saying, "I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really...

The symbolism in "As I Grew Older" is robust and center-stage in the poem. Indeed, the poem is structured entirely around two key images, which are repeated for emphasis. The first symbol is that...

I swear to the LordI still can't seeWhy Democracy meansEverybody but me. This is Langston Hughes's poem "The Black Man Speaks" from Jim Crow's Last Stand (1943). The title gives us some context,...

In his essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," poet Langston Hughes interprets the statement of a young African-American poet that, "I want to be a poet—not a Negro poet," to mean, "I...

Langston Hughes was the poetic voice of not just a generation, but of an entire race. Born in the mid-west in the early 1900’s, his work became synonymous with the struggle for equality during the...

In this poem, the speaker is describing the uncomfortable mood at the dinner table where an apparently liberal white person is befriending him, or at least making a show of doing so. There is...

In this poem, two former sweethearts from Ohio (Bill and Mary) randomly run into each other again in Washington Square in NYC one night. We learn that they did not marry because: Then something...

Both "I, Too" and "The Weary Blues" focus on African American men who try to express themselves. In "I, Too," the speaker tries to express himself by an act of simple defiance, namely his refusal...

Nancy Lee does not lose her pride and self-worth because these were neither created nor nurtured by the committee. All the sensations of pride in winning the scholarship were formulated and...

Of course, any work of poetry opens itself up to a number of different meanings, and it is very hard to pin down any one definitive explanation of such a diverse medium. However, here is my "take"...

Langston Hughes's poem "Life is Fine" focuses on the struggles of a man who is dealing with heartbreak. In this poem, the man contemplates suicide by both jumping into a river and then jumping from...

He frequently uses metaphors, similes and symbolism. If you look at his poem "Mother to Son," he has a mother giving advice to her son, and she compares life to an old staircase that one must keep...

The one-act play written by Langston Hughes entitled A Soul Gone Home portrays several messages about poverty, family, racial inequality, and selfishness. This play was written in 1937, which was a...

Langston Hughes, born in 1902, is remembered for his short stories and poetry which were great influences in the Harlem Renaissance. His work was steeped in the politics of race relations, as he...

Bill and Mary had been in love with each other when they were both young. When they were a couple, they used to take evening walks and talk together. They stopped speaking after "something not very...

The first line of this very short and thought-provoking poem is “The ivory gods and the ebony gods.” To help you get started in your analysis of themes and literary devices in this work, let us...

Langston Hughes's poems dramatize the plight of African Americans in an unjust, racist society. For example, in "The Ballad of the Landlord," an African American tenant attempts to ask his white...

The theme of appearances and reality is one of the strongest themes in "Berry." There is a phoniness to Dr. Renfield's home that "troubles" Berry. He sees it in "Mrs. Osborn's grand manner to...

As the story opens, an employment office in Jersey City has sent a worker, Milberry Jones, to a large home near the beach that houses disabled children for the summer. It's run in part by Mrs....

Characterization is one element used in "Who's Passing for Who?" It is interesting to look at the way Hughes developed the white characters and the black characters. The white couple who tricks...

Langston Hughes wrote about dreams, inequality, and oppression in his imagery poems. He was considered to be the best of the Harlem Renaissance poets. His beautiful poetry speaks not only to the...

"Dream Boogie" is narrated by two speakers who speak over one another. The main opposition in the poem is between these two speakers. The first speaker asks his friend, who he refers to as "daddy,"...

On the surface of it, this poem describes the sea and its endlessness. Hughes describes the sea as a "wilderness" and a "desert," both words which are usually applied to dry land, and both of which...

Langston Hughes wrote the one act play entitled A Soul Gone Home in 1963. It was part of a collection called Five Plays by Langston Hughes. The plot of the play is a sixteen-year-old boy named...

I think that one of the primary lessons that Hughes wishes to impart from his poem is the idea that Booker T. Washington served a vital role in the construction of Black consciousness in America....

I agree with the previous poster, but I would like to add that in addition to the poetry, short stories, and plays that Hughes is best known for, he's also the author of a great number of essays,...

In Langston Hughes' story "Berry," Mrs. Osborn, the housekeeper at Dr. Renfield's Summer Home for Crippled Children, has sent to the Jersey City employment office to get a replacement for the...

In the short story "Berry" by Langston Hughes, the author illustrates the themes of racism and inequality. The main character of the story, Milberry Jones—whom the children call Berry—is hired to...

Langston Hughes was an American poet who lived from 1902 to 1967. He is considered an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of Black artists, writers, and musicians in Harlem and...

“The City” by Langston Hughes is an eight-line long poem. It consists of two stanzas each containing four lines. Four-line stanzas are called "quatrains." The lines each contain two stressed...

"The Pushcart Man" and "Drama for Winter Night" are two of my favorite works by Langston Hughes. I think I can help you find lots of ways in which the individual is both embedded and alienated in...

Camille Dungy's poem "Because It Looked Hotter That Way" is, interestingly, an acrostic poem that utilizes the last words of Gwendolyn Brooks's "We Real Cool" and, thus, restricts its form.(Here is...

In the poem, Langston Hughes creates a contrast between a thematic project staged on a train, which traveled the United States beginning in 1947 and had no African American personnel, and ordinary...

Just to add to the answer above, we might say that the dream that Hughes refers to is the dream of achieving equality and freedom as a black man in a racist society. There is no direct statement of...

Hughes as a visionary can be argued on many different fronts. His writings are visionary in terms of articulating a reality for African- Americans that embraced both the condition of what is and a...

There are no super explicit examples of personification in Langston Hughes's "As I Grew Older," but there are several lines where personification may be implied. The first thing that Hughes could...

Langston Hughes was the poetic voice of the African-American in the mid-twentieth century. Often feeling disenfranchised from white society, Hughes’ poetry spoke to the black community to never...

All right, so we need to determine theme. An easy way to think about theme is to answer this question: What statement about the world is the speaker of the poem sending to the reader. If you can...

In “Berry” by Langston Hughes, both Milberry Jones and the children at Dr. Renfield's Summer Home for Crippled Children are outsiders. Milberry, better known as “Berry,” as a young Black man, knows...

In Langston Hughes's short story "Berry," the African-American boy named Milberry Jones, called Berry for short, is instantly treated like an "other" the moment he arrives to work in the kitchen at...

In "Madam and the Rent Man," the subject and conflict are one in the same. It is an argument between a tenant and a rent collector. The tenant, or Madam, is refusing to pay her rent because of...

Langston Hughes was a poet whose writing played a critical role in the Harlem Renaissance. There is a lot that can be learned from both his life and his writing, but I will provide an overview of...

"Madam and her Madam" utilizes irony to convey the delicate conflict between a wealthy white woman and the black woman, Alberta, she uses to complete the many tasks of the household. Hughes employs...

Since this poem is not divided into stanzas, I'll separate into sections which make sense for meaning. I dream a world where manNo other man will scorn, The speaker opens with his vision of a new...

Langston Hughes's short story "Berry" is about a hardworking African American man named Milberry Jones, also known as "Berry." He is an undereducated and poor man, but Berry also has a kind soul...

The mood of "As I Grew Older" is hopeful and uplifting. The speaker's dream is overshadowed by a wall, and he seems to give up hope when he "lie[s] down in the shadow, / No longer the light of...