Tag Archives: Langston Hughes

BOOK: “Dear Lovely Death” by Langston Hughes

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Dear Lovely DeathDear Lovely Death by Langston Hughes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Second Story Books Page

This, Langston Hughes’ fourth poetry collection — published in 1931, consists of twelve short poems about (or touching upon) death. Originally, Hughes only had a small run of this collection self-published, so it isn’t always listed among his works.

These poems are short and lyrical. The last few poems are not so explicitly about death as the early ones. However, given that old chestnut (variously attributed to Robert Graves and Samuel Delany) that all poems are about love, death, or the change of seasons, these would definitely hit the second category.

I’d recommend this collection for poetry readers.

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BOOK: “The Negro Mother: And Other Dramatic Recitations” by Langston Hughes

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The Negro Mother: And Other Dramatic RecitationsThe Negro Mother: And Other Dramatic Recitations by Langston Hughes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Google Books Site

This short volume consists of just five intermediate length lyric poems. The poems included are: “The Coloured Soldier,” “Broke,” “The Big-Timer,” “The Negro Mother,” and “Dark Youth of the USA.”

This collection stands out from Hughes’ others. Each poem is a character sketch, a snapshot of tribulations suffered by black Americans in Hughes’ day (published in 1931.) The poems are longer and more biographic than most of Hughes’ work.

This is a powerful collection of poems, and I’d highly recommend it for poetry readers.

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BOOKS: “Fine Clothes to the Jew” by Langston Hughes

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Fine Clothes to the JewFine Clothes to the Jew by Langston Hughes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Available online – Lehigh University

This, Hughes’s second poetry collection, is different from the first in that it leans more heavily into blues music structure and into dialectal language use. It’s not that these didn’t feature in Weary Blues, but in this collection one can read most of the poems with a blues shuffle riff playing in one’s head (and, if you do, you will hear how Muddy Waters might have belted them out in a Blues club.)

While it’s fun to read, this collection is not nearly so deep or evocative as the collection that preceded. Still, if you like poetry and / or the Blues, you’ll definitely find this to be a worthwhile read.

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BOOKS: “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes

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The Weary BluesThe Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available online — Lehigh University

Langston Hughes was one of the greats of 20th century American poetry, and The Weary Blues was his first collection (1926,) containing some of his most beloved (and anthologized) pieces, including: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “I, too, sing America” [a.k.a. Epilogue; which plays off Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.”] I’ve always loved how Hughes used the rhythm of repetition and the technique of standing in for the everyman (as he famously did in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” but in other of his poems as well.) He also had a gift for concision.

These sixty-nine poems deal in a wide range of themes including race, travel, love, etc. Music, be it Jazz or Blues, is an ever-present force in Hughes work. In addition to the aforementioned classics, among my favorite pieces from the collection are: “Winter Moon,” “March Moon,” “‘The Night is Beautiful'” [a.k.a. Poem,] “When Sue Wears Red,” “Water Front Streets,” “Long Trip,” “Seascape,” “Suicide’s Note,” “Songs to the Dark,” and “Lament for Dark Peoples.”

I’d highly recommend this collection for poetry readers.

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The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes [w/ Audio]

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I've known rivers:
 I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
 I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
 I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
 I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
 Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

BOOKS: Echo & Critique by Florian Gargaillo

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Echo and Critique: Poetry and the Clichés of Public SpeechEcho and Critique: Poetry and the Clichés of Public Speech by Florian Gargaillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

Out Now (May 10, 2023)

This book examines seven poets’ attempts to halt the proliferation of clichés, euphemisms, doublespeak, etc., words and phrases that not only corrupt the language but are often used to disguise bad behavior or to camouflage dismaying truths. It focuses on a technique, echo and critique, in which the poet employs one or more of these disconcerting words or phrases (or clever variants of them,) but does so in a way that reveals the chicanery within them.

The poets whose work is discussed are: Auden, Randall Jarrell, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Robert Lowell, Josephine Miles, and Seamus Heaney. These poets go head-to-head with cliché and doublespeak in the form of bureaucratese, propaganda, political speak, and business talk — with particular emphasis on war, race, and politics.

The book makes some interesting points. There are more readable discussions of the subject of corruption and manipulation of the English language, though none that I’m aware of on this particular approach to combating it. This volume is largely aimed at scholars, and not so much the popular readers. That said, I found it well worth reading.

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