Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

by Hughes, Langston

• ISBN13: 9780679728184
• ISBN10: 067972818X
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1990-09-12
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

With the publication of his first book of poems,The Weary Blues, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America. The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night." They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture. They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life." The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America." It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

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 <b>Opportunity</b>, 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 Fellow

Table of Contents

AFRO-AMERICAN FRAGMENTS
Afro-American Fragment	3	(1)
The Negro Speaks of Rivers	4	(1)
Sun Song	5	(1)
Aunt Sue's Stories	6	(1)
Danse Africaine	7	(1)
Negro	8	(1)
American Heartbreak	9	(1)
October 16	10	(1)
As I Grew Older	11	(2)
My People	13	(1)
Dream Variations	14	(3)
FEET OF JESUS
Feet o' Jesus	17	(1)
Prayer	18	(1)
Shout	19	(1)
Fire	20	(1)
Sunday Morning Prophecy	21	(2)
Sinner	23	(1)
Litany	24	(1)
Angels Wings	25	(1)
Judgment Day	26	(1)
Prayer Meeting	27	(1)
Spirituals	28	(1)
Tambourines	29	(4)
SHADOW OF THE BLUES
The Weary Blues	33	(2)
Hope	35	(1)
Late Last Night	36	(1)
Bad Morning	37	(1)
Sylvester's Dying Bed	38	(1)
Wake	39	(1)
Could Be	40	(1)
Bad Luck Card	41	(1)
Reverie on the Harlem River	42	(1)
Morning After	43	(1)
Early Evening Quarrel	44	(1)
Evil	45	(1)
As Befits a Man	46	(3)
SEA AND LAND
Havana Dreams	49	(1)
Catch	50	(1)
Water-Front Streets	51	(1)
Long Trip	52	(1)
Seascape	53	(1)
Moonlight Night: Carmel	54	(1)
Heaven	55	(1)
In Time of Silver Rain	56	(1)
Joy	57	(1)
Winter Moon	58	(1)
Snail	59	(1)
March Moon	60	(1)
Harlem Night Song	61	(1)
To Artina	62	(1)
Fulfilment	63	(1)
Cypsy Melodies	64	(1)
Mexican Market Woman	65	(1)
A Black Pierrot	66	(1)
Ardella	67	(1)
When Sue Wears Red	68	(1)
Love	69	(1)
Beale Street	70	(1)
Port Town	71	(1)
Natcha	72	(1)
Young Sailor	73	(1)
Sea Calm	74	(1)
Dream Dust	75	(1)
No Regrets	76	(1)
Troubled Woman	77	(1)
Island	78	(3)
DISTANCE NOWHERE
Border Line	81	(1)
Garden	82	(1)
Genius Child	83	(1)
Strange Hurt	84	(1)
Suicide's Note	85	(1)
End	86	(1)
Drum	87	(1)
Personal	88	(1)
Juliet	89	(1)
Desire	90	(1)
Vagabonds	91	(1)
One	92	(1)
Desert	93	(1)
A House in Taos	94	(2)
Demand	96	(1)
Dream	97	(1)
Night: Four Songs	98	(1)
Luck	99	(1)
Old Walt	100	(1)
Kid in the Park	101	(1)
Song for Billie Holiday	102	(1)
Fantasy in Purple	103	(4)
AFTER HOURS
Midnight Raffle	107	(1)
What?	108	(1)
Gone Boy	109	(1)
50--50	110	(1)
Maybe	111	(1)
Lover's Return	112	(1)
Miss Blue'es Child	113	(1)
Trumpet Player	114	(2)
Monroe's Blues	116	(1)
Stony Lonesome	117	(1)
Black Maria	118	(3)
LIFE IS FINE
Life Is Fine	121	(2)
Still Here	123	(1)
Ballad of the Gypsy	124	(1)
Me and the Mule	125	(1)
Kid Sleepy	126	(1)
Little Lyric	127	(1)
Fired	128	(1)
Midnight Dancer	129	(1)
Blue Monday	130	(1)
Ennui	131	(1)
Mama and Daughter	132	(1)
Delinquent	133	(1)
S-sss-ss-sh!	134	(1)
Homecoming	135	(1)
Final Curve	136	(1)
Little Green Tree	137	(1)
Crossing	138	(1)
Widow Woman	139	(4)
LAMENT OVER LOVE
Misery	143	(1)
Ballad of the Fortune Teller	144	(2)
Cora	146	(1)
Down and Out	147	(1)
Young Gal's Blues	148	(1)
Ballad of the Girl Whose Name Is Mud	149	(1)
Hard Daddy	150	(1)
Midwinter Blues	151	(1)
Little Old Letter	152	(1)
Lament over Love	153	(4)
MAGNOLIA FLOWERS
Daybreak in Alabama	157	(1)
Cross	158	(1)
Magnolia Flowers	159	(1)
Mulatto	160	(2)
Southern Mammy Sings	162	(1)
Ku Klux	163	(1)
West Texas	164	(1)
Share-Croppers	165	(1)
Ruby Brown	166	(1)
Roland Hayes Beaten	167	(1)
Uncle Tom	168	(1)
Porter	169	(1)
Blue Bayou	170	(1)
Silhouette	171	(1)
Song for a Dark Girl	172	(1)
The South	173	(1)
Bound No'th Blues	174	(3)
NAME IN UPHILL LETTERS
One-Way Ticket	177	(1)
Migrant	178	(2)
Summer Evening	180	(2)
Graduation	182	(2)
Interne at Provident	184	(2)
Railroad Avenue	186	(1)
Mother to Son	187	(1)
Stars	188	(1)
To Be Somebody	189	(1)
Note on Commercial Theatre	190	(1)
Puzzled	191	(1)
Seashore through Dark Glasses	192	(1)
Baby	193	(1)
Merry-Go-Round	194	(1)
Elevator Boy	195	(1)
Who But the Lord?	196	(1)
Third Degree	197	(1)
Ballad of the Man Who's Gone	198	(3)
MADAM TO YOU
Madam's Past History	201	(1)
Madam and Her Madam	202	(1)
Madam's Calling Cards	203	(1)
Madam and the Rent Man	204	(2)
Madam and the Number Writer	206	(2)
Madam and the Phone Bill	208	(2)
Madam and the Charity Child	210	(1)
Madam and the Fortune Teller	211	(1)
Madam and the Wrong Visitor	212	(1)
Madam and the Minister	213	(2)
Madam and Her Might-Have-Been	215	(2)
Madam and the Census Man	217	(4)
MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED
Montage of a Dream Deferred	221	(54)
WORDS LIKE FREEDOM
I, Too	275	(1)
Freedom Train	276	(3)
Georgia Dusk	279	(1)
Lunch in a Jim Crow Car	280	(1)
In Explanation of Our Times	281	(3)
Africa	284	(1)
Democracy	285	(1)
Consider Me	286	(2)
The Negro Mother	288	(2)
Refugee in America	290	(1)
Freedom's Plow	291