Hughes: Poems Edited by David Roessel

by Hughes, Langston; Roessel, David

• ISBN13: 9780375405518
• ISBN10: 0375405518
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-23
• Publisher: Everyman's Library

Summary

From the publication of his first book in 1926, Langston Hughes was hailed as the poet laureate of black America, the first to commemorate the experience of African Americans in a voice that no reader, black or white, could fail to hear. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, this volume is a treasure-an essential collection of the work of a poet whose words have entered our common language.

Author Biography

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902. After graduation from high school, he spent a year in Mexico with his father, then a year studying at Columbia University. His first poem in a nationally known magazine was "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," which appeared in Crisis in 1921. In 1925, he was awarded the First Prize for Poetry of the magazine Opportunity, the winning poem being "The Weary Blues," which gave its title to his first book of poems, published in 1926. As a result of his poetry, Mr. Hughes received a scholarship at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he won his B.A. in 1929. In 1943, he was awarded an honorary Litt.D. by his alma mater; he has also been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (1935), a Rosenwald Fellowship (1940), and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Grant (1947). From 1926 until his death in 1967, Langston Hughes devoted his time to writing and lecturing. He wrote poetry, short stories, autobiography, song lyrics, essays, humor, and plays. A cross section of his work was published in 1958 as The Langston Hughes Reader.

Table of Contents

Poems of Five Decades

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Aunt Sue's Stories

Negro Danse Africaine Song for a Banjo Dance

Mother to Son

When Sue Wears Red Jazzonia

Prayer Meeting My People Migration

Lament for Dark Peoples

Youth Dream Variations

Johannesburg Mines Negro Dancers

I, Too The Weary Blues To Midnight

Nan at Leroy's Soledad Cross

Summer Night Jazz Band in a Parisian Cabaret

Midwinter Blues Ma Man Lament over Love Homesick Blues

Ruby Brown Elevator Boy Bound No'th Blues Feet o'

Jesus Beale Street

Love A House in Taos Railroad Avenue

Saturday Night

Midnight Dancer Blues Fantasy

Lenox Avenue: Midnight Spirituals Fire

Moan Angels Wings

Baby Red Silk Stockings

Young Gal's Blues Magnolia Flowers

Hurt Aesthete in Harlem Afro-American Fragment

Black Seed To Certain Negro Leaders

October 16: The Raid Advertisement for the Waldorf-Astoria

Florida Road Workers Always the Same

Letter to the Academy Personal Cubes Madrid

Let America Be America Again

Genius Child

Poet to Patron Visitors to the Black Belt

Note on Commercial Theatre

Seven Moments of Love Daybreak in Alabama Evenin'

Air Blues Sunset in Dixie

Me and the Mule Merry-Go-Round Ku Klux Reverie on the Harlem River

Words Like Freedom Red Cross Silhouette Still Here

Moonlight in Valencia: Civil War

Madam's Past History

Madam's Calling Cards

Madam and Her Might-Have-Been

Madam and the Phone Bill

Madam and the Fortune Teller

Heart Graduation

Freedom Train

Trumpet Player Life Is Fine

Harlem [1] Mama and Daughter

Third Degree Interne at Provident

American Heartbreak Envoy to Africa Old Walt

In Explanation of Our Times

Memo to Non-White Peoples

Jim Crow Car Go Slow

Junior Addict Final Call Long View: Negro Birmingham Sunday Sweet Words on Race

Dream Boogie Parade

Children's Rhymes

Sister Preference

Necessity Question

Buddy Juke Box

Love Song Ultimatum Warning

Croon New Yorkers Wonder

Easy Boogie Movies

Tell Me Not a Movie

Neon Signs Numbers

What? So Soon!

Motto Dead in There Situation

Dancer Advice Green Memory Wine-O

Relief Ballad of the Landlord

Corner Meeting Projection

Flatted Fifths Tomorrow Mellow

Live and Let Live Gauge Bar Cafe´: 3 a.m

Be-Bop Boys Tag Theme for English B College Formal: Renaissance Casino Low to High Boogie: 1 a.m

So Long Deferred Request

Shame on You World War II Mystery

Sliver of Sermon Testimonial

Passing Nightmare

Boogie Sunday by the Combination

Casualty Night Funeral in Harlem Blues at Dawn Dime

Argument Neighbor

Evening Song

Chord Fact Joe Louis

Subway Rush Hour

Brothers Likewise Sliver Hope Dream Boogie: Variation Harlem [2]

Good Morning Same in Blues

Comment on Curb Letter Island

Index of First Lines

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.