James Langston Hughes was one of the most inspiring poets of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in the city of Joplin, Missouri on the day of February 1, 1902. He lived through the rough times for African Americans in American Society. His lifestyle he grew up in helped him become such a special poet for many of his readers. His brother John Mercer Langston also was an important figure in American society, as he was the first African American to be elected to public office (Jackson). Growing up Langston Hughes ended up in Lincoln, Illinois after his father abandoned him when he moved to Mexico (Isaac). This is where his mother and her husband were living at the time. Shortly after that the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio and this is where Langston Hughes began to show his passion for poetry. Many believe his real sign to head in the direction of writing was in 8th grade when he was selected as the best poet in his class (Jackson). Langston then decided this is what he wanted to do with his life, and nobody was going to hold him back from his dreams.
His father had dreamt otherwise though, as he thought his son would never be able to make a living as a writer. With that said his father paid for his tuition at Columbia University under one condition. That condition was that Langston was to study to be an engineer, a career his father felt would benefit him more and help him make a living. After a year of studying to be an engineer Langston realized all he wanted to do was continue to write, and that the whole engineering career wasn’t for him, so he decided to drop out of the program (Jackson). It was after this transition that he began writing some of his best work, such as “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, and his essay titled “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”. He then moved to Washington D.C., where he made his first break through as he finished his first book of poetry titled The Weary Blues (Isaac). He decided to go back to college and finish his education because of a scholarship he had received, so three years after he enrolled at Lincoln University he had graduated.
The rest of his life he devoted his time to writing and everything that has to do with it. He wrote all types of works such as fiction, plays, children’s poetry, and television scripts. The life of Langston Hughes was taken away on May 22, 1967, but his life will live on in lives of many people who appreciate his writing and lifestyle. He inspired many people of his time and his work continues to inspire many people of present-day society. His style of writing is what has made his works so special, because he shows truth to the suffering, and happiness of the history that African Americans have overcame (Jackson).
The style of writing that Langston Hughes uses in most of his works is very unique to those of most African American poets of his time period. In one of his most famous essays he speaks of other black poets, “who would surrender racial pride in the name of a false integration” (The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain). This shows how he felt most people were trying to be like white poets instead of being themselves because they felt like it was better to be known as a poet instead of a black poet.
He lived by these thoughts as he wrote many of his works, such as one of his most famous poems “The Negro Speaks of Rivers. In this specific poem he goes deep into some of the struggles that African American ancestors have gone through, and some that he himself had gone through. Many enjoy his works for the truth they show. He doesn’t just write of the good things that the African American culture has gone through, but he includes those times in history when it was a struggle to be African American. He also was unique in the way he wrote his poetry, because he used the blue’s structure in his writing from the musical passion he had. He shows his blues structure in his poem “Dream Variations” which gives a change in stance for the African American Culture as time goes by.
When looking at Langston Hughes poem “Dream Variations” the reader is presented with two stanzas that look very similar. At the same time they are also very different in many ways. The first line gives the idea of the narrator wanting to just cut loose and be free. It is the narrator telling the reader they want to do something saying, “To fling my arms wide” (Hughes ln. 1). Some things that were going on during the time this poem was written were oppression and slavery, so this first line is important because it feels like the narrator is trapped or being held some physical or mental way, and they just want to let loose and be free some how. The second line keeps the tone that the first line presents because it seems like the person stating these lines has been intimidated of something. Almost like a hierarchy is controlling them and they just want to have a new life.
The key to this line is the comparison to the second line in the second stanza. The speaker in the first stanza says they just wish to dance somewhere the sun is shining almost like they are ashamed to show themselves to the world. This is the exact opposite of the second stanza, as the speaker wants to be in the face of the sun. They want to be shined upon and be looked upon by the world. This is a good example of how African Americans felt during the rough times when they were enslaved or degraded by most Americans. Wherever they went they were called names or harassed by people just because of something they couldn’t control and that was the color of their skin.
The overall assumption to be made by looking at this line is that the reader wants happiness they want to be “In some place of the sun”, but they seem ashamed of something that isn’t yet known (Hughes ln. 2). After the second line in both stanzas is where the stanzas present two different points of view. The points of view shared in both stanzas express two similar people living in different worlds. In the first stanza the speaker wants to whirl and to dance, as it seems like in the second stanza they already are dancing. The assumption to be made from the beginning of each stanza is that the speaker of the first stanza wants what the speaker of the second stanza already has.
The speaker of the first stanza gives a clear visual of slavery throughout the rest of the stanza. In the forth line saying, “Till the white day is done” gives the assumption that this person must wait for someone else’s day to end for theirs to begin (Hughes ln. 4). This is stated differently in the second stanza as the speaker says, “Till the quick day is done” (Hughes ln. 13). This is where slavery is best shown as the factor in the first speakers lifestyle. So it is obvious that the speaker of the first stanza is enslaved, while the speaker of the second stanza is free and can do those things that the first speaker cannot.
Dubose Heyward expresses the way that speaker one is feeling into words best through his analysis saying, “the South is a great loser thereby brings him small comfort” (Mullen 43). The next line in each of the stanzas continues to be different from the other. In the fifth line of the first stanza the speaker describes his evening as cold.
Another important word in this line is the word “Then” it gives the idea that they have had an eventful day and then they finally get to rest at cool evening (Hughes ln. 5). The importance of this difference compared to the second stanza, is because in the second stanza the speaker says “Rest” as a first word (Hughes ln. 14). This is given to show that they weren’t doing something that would make sleeping something they can do at pale evening or whenever they want. This is true for the lifestyle of someone who is enslaved and someone who is free and given the power to choose when to sleep, while someone who is enslaved must wait till their allowed to sleep.
The final line that can help assume that the speaker of the first stanza lives a life of slavery is the sixth line. This line shows the speaker is sleeping beneath a tall tree, while the second stanza sees the tree as merely an object. The second speaker just describes the tree for what it is, which is a tall slim tree (Hughes ln. 15). James Baldwin gives his ideas for the different vocabulary expressed in the last few lines in the second stanza saying, “And, as the white world takes over this vocabulary-without the faintest notion of what it really means-the vocabulary is forced to change” (Miller 86). The next three lines show great importance to show the obvious lifestyle each speaker is living in. The seventh line shows the night as being something gentle or tender in both stanzas. The meaning of this line is similar in both stanzas, but the only difference is that in the second stanza expresses the night as something that is coming, while the first stanza continues to express the idea of waiting for something.
Most slaves have long workdays of hard labor, so the night seems like it takes forever to come. With this said it is easy to assume the first speaker continues to express the rough lifestyle they live. As a closing to each of the speaker’s stanzas they speak of the night being of darkness. In the first stanza it’s expressed as being, “Dark like me-“, while the second stanza describes night as being, “Black like me” (Hughes lns. 8, 17). This shows that the speaker in the first stanza is not happy with who he is, because of the lifestyle he has to live.
The second stanza shows some one who is proud of being African American, and he is proud with the oppression and adversity which their people have overcame in world history all the way from Africa, to the United States where they are free. The final line of the first stanza, which is one more line then the second stanza, is merely there to show that the speaker dreams of freedom. The most noticeable difference in the two stanzas is that the second stanza doesn’t have a ninth line and this is important because it can confirm that this speaker doesn’t have to dream for freedom, because this person is free.
Langston Hughes uses his blues like structure to put this masterpiece together. The poem holds two points of view within one poem, as it assigns a different point of view in each stanza. The speaker in the first stanza wants the freedom that all people should be guaranteed when they come to this country, because the United States is supposed to be the land of the free. Through time and history our culture has overcome its disrespect towards African Americans and realized it was wrong to enslave these people. By ways of realization and individual will power African Americans can be proud of themselves and their achievements. They should be proud of what they are just like Langston Hughes was when he wrote his many poems such as “Dream Variations”.
