Theme for a Life
Langston Hughes was one of the greatest black poets, not just poet but black poet, ever to live. Langston Hughes was proud of his heritage, and he was proud of his color. He did not want the title of poet, but that of black poet. Hughes, in an essay titled "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," speaks of black writers and poets "who surrender racial pride in the name of a false integration." He doesn't want to be mistaken for a white poet. He writes, "We younger Negro artists now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased then we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too...If colored people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn't matter either," (The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, p. 2).This is a constant theme expressed in his poetry. In his poem "Theme for English B" Hughes wonders "So will my page be colored that I write? / Being me, it will not be white." Hughes was a powerful black writer, who always spoke out, in a black voice to help his people through his writing.Hughes grew up in a black abolitionist family. He learned early on
Langston Hughes was one of the greatest black writers to ever live. /Sure, call me any ugly name you choose/" (Let America Be America Again). " (Rent-Party Shout: For a Lady Dancer). "I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street. In his forty years of writing, "he wrote sixteen books of poetry, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of editorial and documentary fiction, twenty plays, children's poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts, and dozens and dozens of magazine articles. " (Poet Laureate of Harlem) Hughes knew his path in life was to not only write, but to be famous. Hughes chose to speak out peaceably, but in a way that drew attention; through his writing. Hughes enrolled at Columbia University to study engineering. He also knew, that to start on his way as a black poet and writer, it would have to be him standing up and talking. Even today there is still the problem of racism. The Nation. / But we are, that's true!" (Theme for English B).
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Acceptance Essays
