Selected Poems

by Langston Hughes

For over 40 years, until his death in 1967, Langston Hughes captured in his poetry the lives of black people in the USA. Selected Poems is made up of Hughes' own choice of his poetry, published first in 1959.
It includes all of Hughes' best known poems including 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers', 'The Weary Blues', 'Song for Billie Holiday', 'Black Maria', 'Magnolia Flowers', 'Lunch in a Jim Crow Car' and 'Montage of a Dream Deferred'. With the advantage of hindsight, it is now easy to see that – for his poems, his jazz lyrics, and his prose – Langston Hughes was one of the great artists of the 20th century.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, African American, Race, Nonfiction, Literature, 20th Century

297 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Through poetry, prose, and drama, American writer James Langston Hughes made important contributions to the Harlem renaissance; his best-known works include Weary Blues (1926) and The Ways of White Folks (1934).

People best know this social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist James Mercer Langston Hughes, one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry, for his famous written work about the period, when "Harlem was in vogue."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langsto...

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Langston Hughes was one of America's master writers of the twentieth century. For over forty years, he used his time to write, lecture, and promote better conditions for African Americans through his work. Most known for his poetry, Hughes also wrote a variety of works including song lyrics, a play, and an autobiography. Hughes chose the poems in Selected Poems shortly before his death in 1967 and included most of his well known work. Selected Poems is collection befitting of an American master.

I remember reading "Mother to Son" when I was in school. We had to analyze it and then use the style to write our own poetry. The last line still stands out for me, "life ain't been no crystal stair." Hughes discusses how the African American experience has been full of hardships. In this particular poem he has a mother convey to her son to work extra hard so he has the opportunity to make something more of his life. In the same section, a family throws a celebration for Mary Lou Jackson because she received a diploma and can now get a job. Even if it is low level job, at least she will be earning money and assisting her family.

Unfortunately, life was rarely a crystal stair for African Americans when Hughes wrote the majority of his poetry. A line that is still recognized today is "if you're white, you're all right...if you're black, Get back!" This was written when the Migration north and west was beginning. Hughes writes of the poor conditions of the south and how African Americans rode a freedom train out of this sometimes horrid existence. He goes on to describe the contrast of the bright lights in Harlem and Chicago to the fear of being lynched and killed just for being black in the South. Even though the Migration was just picking up steam at the time when he wrote, Hughes recognized the opportunity for freedom for his people and encouraged them to move in his writing.

The plight of African Americans can best be summed up in Hughes' ending two sections. His montage of a dream deferred explains how a man can to keep dropping out of school to help his family and then was held back a grade when they moved north. Finally at age twenty he is ready to graduate and he feels too old to first be starting out in life. Hughes ends the collection with powerful words by quoting Jefferson, Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass. "Better to die free, than to live slaves," he motivates his people, and "Keep your hand on the plow! Hold on!" The American dream is for all people as long as they keep a positive outlook on life and make the best of the opportunities granted them.

I am participating in an African American history month challenge this year, and I have both fiction and nonfiction books lined up to read. I am glad that I started the month with poetry written by a true American master. Hughes voice speaks of the raw emotions of what African Americans experienced and he used his voice as a platform to better their conditions. A powerful collection, I rate Langston Hughes' Selected Poems a full 5 bright stars.

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I’ve been interested in the writing of Langston Hughes for some time now. After reading Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, which included brief snippets of his writing, I added both this selection of his poetry as well as one of his novels, Not Without Laughter, to my growing list of books to read someday. I even recall my eighth-grader at the time sharing a piece of Hughes’s poetry with me and decided if he thought it was worth pointing out, then by all means I must get my hands on a copy of one of his collections!

Born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, Langston Hughes was one of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance. He was a prolific author, publishing numerous collections of poetry and short stories, novels, plays, non-fiction, and books for children. The influence of jazz and blues is evident in his writing, and his work is very accessible, written for the average person, not just for the scholarly individual. He wrote about working-class blacks in America and spoke to and about black people – their culture, their struggles, their joy, their music.

As part of Black History Month in February, I decided I was well overdue to begin my exploration of this celebrated poet. This particular collection is one which Hughes himself selected from his various volumes of published poetry. The poems vary in length, with some being quite short with just three or four lines. I rarely read poetry, but the beauty and the rhythms of his poems appealed to me immensely. I think the perfect way to experience them would be to hear them read aloud.

Of course, I can’t finish this review without including a couple of my favorite poems.

Juke Box Love Song

I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem’s heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day –
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

In Time of Silver Rain

In time of silver rain
The earth
Puts forth new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads
Of life,
Of life,
Of life!

In time of silver rain
The butterflies
Lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth
New leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,
In time of silver rain
When spring
And life
Are new.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Langston Hughes personally selected these poems for this collection, so it makes me feel closer to him. I've secretly wanted to live in the passed away time of this literary birth that took place during the Harlem Renaissance, so I was fascinated by the artwork of words. In fact I'm considering having a Harlem Renaissance Night gathering at my place and all I need is a saxophonist to commemorate Coleman Hawkins (because what instrument is as orgasmic as the sax?). Hughes sat around many musicians and blues singers and he took those forms of music and turned their notes into verse.


"I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street…" - Langston Hughes

There are too many sections to this timeless collection, too many poems, even a montage of poems, so where to start? I went for the ones you don't see often. Those who read my review of The Big Sea know that I love "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," but this time I'm going for something a bit different and sensual and sorrowed and simple and colorful. And Harlemesque.

Harlem Night Song

Come,
Let us roam the night together
Singing.

I love you.

Across
The Harlem roof-tops
Moon is shining.
Night sky is blue.
Stars are great drops
Of golden dew

Down the street
A band is playing.

I love you.

Come,
Let us roam the night together
Singing.


Harlem Renaissance Couple, from James Van Der Zee's historical collection

In The Big Sea Hughes wrote about Gladys Bentley, the pianist who played the piano at a small club (since she wasn't allowed at the famous "Cotton Club" which sat in the middle of Harlem) "from ten in the evening until dawn, with scarcely a break between the notes, sliding from one song to another, with a powerful and continuous underbeat of jungle rhythm." He writes of people like Bentley in this collection, the starving artists denied their talent and denied jobs. He writes of the underdogs and unnoticed of the streets, the drunks, the prostitutes, the poor and homeless. He writes of a time when black people thrived in Harlem, but fought to survive in America.

While on this thematic path of depression, poverty, racial tensions, love, suicide, sex, and freedom, I followed the song of Langston Hughes. I let the song guide me and I followed it to Harlem, I followed Harlem, with a glass of cognac and John Coltrane's In a Sentimental Mood sounding softly the midnight air.

Jude Box Love Song

I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue buses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you til day-
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One afternoon in 1925, the white poet Vachel Lindsay was dining at the Wardman Park Hotel restaurant in Washington D.C. when a black busboy dropped three sheets of typed verse beside his plate. Lindsay read one of the poems, "The Weary Blues," and—impressed—called for the busboy, "Who wrote this?" he asked the young man. “I did," answered Langston Hughes. That evening, Lindsay reciting all three of Hughes’ poem at his own poetry reading, announcing his discovery of a “bonafide poet.”

Of course—as is true of most stories like this—the “discovery” of “the Poet Laureate of the Harlem Renaissance” was not as simple as that. Four years earlier, Hughes—just out of high school—published his now celebrated poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” in the NAACP’s magazine Crisis, winning the admiration of major figures in the black literary community like W.E.B. Dubois and James Weldon Johnson, and, at the time of his encounter with Lindsay, Hughes’ his first book—also entitled The Weary Blues--had already been accepted for publication by Alfred A. Knopf. Still, Lindsay—who today is often derided for his over-the-top performances and naive racism (particularly of his notorious poem “The Congo) did what he could to publicize the young poet, and his contribution should be remembered. (Not forgetting, though, that it was Hughes who put those three poems down next to his plate.)

For years, I have carried around bright little memories of Langston Hughes in my head, all eight short poems I was taught and then taught in turn: “Dreams” (“...if dreams die,/ life is a broken-winged bird/that cannot fly.”), “Theme for English B” ("...will my page be colored that I write?/ Being me, it will not be white.”), “Let America Be America Again” (“The land that never has been yet—/ And yet must be—/ the land where every man is free.”), “Mother to Son” (‘...life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.”), “I, Too, Sing America” (I am the darker brother./ They send me to eat in the kitchen/ When company comes,/ But I laugh,/ And eat well,/ And grow strong.”), “The Weary Blues” (“And far into the night he crooned that tune./ The stars went out and so did the moon.), “Harlem (Dream Deferred)” (“What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?”), and of course “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (“I’ve known rivers:/ Ancient, dusky rivers./ My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”) These gems, a central part of the African-American literary heritage, are an important part of the heritage of all Americans too.

Unfortunately, reading the three-hundred page Selected Poems of Langston Hughes, I have been unable to find many poems equal to these eight. Almost all possess a lyrical musicality even at their bleakest (a quality that always eluded Hughes’ major influence Carl Sandburg), but few suggest the epic scope of Whitman, even in miniature—as “I, Too, Sing America” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” undeniably do. Then again, as poet and critic Randall Jarrell once said, “A poet is a man who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times.” Langston Hughes, who managed to be struck—not five or six, but—at least eight times, is indisputably a poet. And the heritage of America is much richer because of it.

I offer you here eight very small lightning strikes or near-strikes which I uncovered in the course of my re-reading of the first half of this book:

AMERICAN HEARTBREAK

I am the American heartbreak—
Rock on which Freedom
Stumps its toe—
The great mistake
That Jamestown
Made long ago.


HOPE

Sometimes when I’m lonely,
Don’t know why,
Keep thinkin’ I won’t be lonely
By and by.


EVIL

Looks like what drives me crazy
Don’t have no effect on you—
But I’m gonna keep on at it
Till it drives you crazy, too.


WINTER MOON

How thin and sharp is the moon tonight
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved crook of the moon to night.


ARDELLA

I would liken you
To a night without stars
Were it not for your eyes.
I would liken you
To a sleep without dreams
Were it not for your songs.


SUICIDE’S NOTE

The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.


DESIRE

Deesire to us
Was like a double death
Swift dying
Of our mingled breath,
Evaporation
Of an unknown strange perfume
Between us quickly
In a naked
Room.


ME AND THE MULE

My old mule,
He’s got a grin on his face.
He’s been a mule so long
He’s forgot about his race.

I’m like that old mule—
Black—and don’t give a damn!
You got to take me
Like I am.

[martin eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always talking about Langston Hughes to my students and especially his poem "I, too sing America" but never read more than a few of his poems, and so I had a certain idea about his style and topics... What a surprise! I discovered other aspects about Langston Hughes that I didn't even suspect: his humour, his concern about women. I felt a range of emotions: sadness, happiness, shame, doubt,...
I knew his fight for freedom and for equality, but I didn't know that he was a great storyteller!
He also reminds me of Walt Whitman in certain aspects.
He is also a great musician: his poems must be read aloud or listened to! so the reader can appreciate his assonances, his tone and intonation, his rhythm, the sounds, his language.

[Brown Girl Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this collection and was thrilled to have discovered more of Hughes poetry. This poetry collection is separated into thirteen sections. The themes of each section are very different yet the poems fit perfectly in each one. The themes cover race, religion, love, society, and just plain living. The poems are lyrical and some only contain a few words. Life of Fine and After Hours are two of my favorite sections. For those avid poetry lovers definitely this is a must read. I4m so glad I finally own a book that contains Hughes poetry.

[Pink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection was great. A few of the poems didn't work for me, but the vast majority were superb. Here's two that I particularly liked.

I, Too.
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

Merry-Go-Round
Where is the Jim Crow section
On this merry-go-round,
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can't sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There's a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we're put in the back—
But there ain't no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where's the horse
For a kid that's black?

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The speaker catches fire
looking at their faces.
His words
jump down to stand
in listener's places.

The majority of these appear to be but lyrics, slinking, slight. Maybe slivers. Reflective and jagged. I struggle again with questions unposed.

I don’t imagine this collection will change many lives but there remains a necessary presence as we idly ignore our origins. I see the tropes today. Just below the haze and away from the anger.

[Raul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember the first time I read criticism of Hughes’ work which was through a compilation of shady remarks from one writer to another and between writers, and it was written by none other than James Baldwin: “Every time I read Langston Hughes I am amazed all over again by his genuine gifts--and depressed that he has done so little with them.” I remember thinking what a harsh indictment that was, and that, as much as I love Baldwin, it wasn’t useful criticism, neither for the reader or writer. It’s just yesterday that I found and read the full review(which coincidentally happens to be a review of this very selection of poems!) and other than still feeling the bite of the quoted sentence when I reread it, which is also the opening of the Baldwin review, I pretty much found myself agreeing with much else that was said.

There are some very good poems here such as As I Grew Older, Dream Variations (also noted by Baldwin), Dream Dust, and Fulfilment, among others, and poems that just didn’t match up to the quality of the very best here. These poems weren’t sophisticated in the sense of difficulty to infer meaning from them as poetry can sometimes be, I never once questioned what was being said, and given the intentionality of wanting the poems to resonate mostly with those Hughes wrote in mind for, I respect and admire the beauty and simplicity in them. For instance with the poem No Regrets:
Out of love,
No regrets—
Though the goodness
Be wasted forever.
Out of love,
No regrets—
Though the return
Be never.

In the end, to reiterate, there are some very good poems and also some not-so-very-good poems here.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

None of the poems I was assigned to read for class did anything for me.

[Tiffani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read much poetry, but reading Sylvia Plath's Ariel last week inspired me to read a little more. And so I picked up a collection of Langston Hughes' poems. Langston Hughes is one of the few poets I have read before, at least a little. He is part of one of my favorite literary-artistic-cultural periods, the Harlem Renaissance.

I absolutely loved this collection! I don't know much about Hughes but after reading this collection he seems like someone who would have been fun to hang out with —the kind of person who could come up with a funny poem on the spur of the moment if you were having a bad day. Next to the funny poems about men and women and not making the rent, there are these intense poems about being Black in America, injustice, and freedom. Hughes' poems span the emotional spectrum, from sadness, to anger and frustration, to hope and happiness. This is an amazing collection of poetry. I am amazed at how so much can be said in just a few lines. Thanks Langston, this was wonderful.

[Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note to self: I quite enjoyed driving through Langston Hughes' life. He colored sad things beautiful. And for that, and my love for important historical black literature, as well as being mulatto, I label 5 stars! I quarreled with this a little but found I was not uncertain of its merit because of his writing, but rather it was me judging some of the misogynistic poe!s in the beginning of this collection. However, he writes from many perspectives and those behaviors were understandable outcomes and important documentations of history considering the black strife being endured. So, because I enjoyed many poems but disliked some, it's not the same 5 stars as is the 5 stars of my beloved Claude Mckay. But still important.

I read this because he was Maya Angelou's favorite. I could really feel as if I was living his life. It's impressive how his words let you peer into many peoples' minds, souls, hearts, and pain. And live it. Even though poetry was reflected in many perspectives, I could tell it was still a major part of his shared story. That's good poetry and I love it.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge lover of Langston Hughes' poetry. Despite the fact that I am a white woman who will never know the depths of racism African Americans had to endure in this country, I honestly feel like Hughes helped all those who weren't going through this plight understand and be sympathetic to the cause. His poetry makes me want to be a better person. It inspires tolerance and understanding.

This book was a fabulous collection of Hughes' work. There are so many great poems that I don't know how I would ever be able to cover them all with a group of students. This will definitely be a collection I will acquire for my classroom library.

[Kazen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored Hughes' work in high school and rereading this collection only cemented that love. There are poems about race, about everyday life before the civil rights era. There's also charming ditties that seem designed to get a smile out of you.

I was surprised how many poems are familiar, how many lines stuck with me over twenty plus years.

Come,
Let us roam the night together
Singing.

There are others that have much more meaning now than they did in high school.

Wake

Tell all my mourners
To mourn in red—
Cause there ain't no sense
In my bein' dead

Needless to say Hughes remains my favorite poet of all time.

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️ As a teen I read Harlem, Mother to Son - “and life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” - and The Negro Speaks of Rivers and found them profound and moving. In this selection I find I am not touched in the same way by a large number of his fast, short, this-is-our-life poetry. Once he begins writing of racial injustice, Jim Crow, the KKK, the long reach for dignity, inclusion, and human equity, I find myself pulled into his words and world and heart once more. I highlighted many of those if you’d like to read them. It’s those poems that make me cry inside.

[Saman]

رؤیاهاتو از دست نده
واسه این‌که اگه رؤیاهات از دس برن
زندگی عین بیابون برهوتی می‌شه
که برفا توش یخ زده باشن

رؤیاهاتو از دس نده
واسه این‌که اگه رؤیاها بمیرن
زندگی عین مرغ بریده بالی می‌شه
که دیگه پروازو خواب ببینه

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.

I, Too by Langston Hughes

Hughes' poems, in this large collection of more than a hundred poems, all seem to be written effortlessly. Many deal with oppression and most all have a clarity to them that does not require any interpretation.

Many are one stanza poems. I would like to have seen some longer poems in his repertoire though, especially those short ones that resonated.

My favorite poem was Night Funeral in Harlem, one of his longer ones. I don't know how one can write a better poem than that one so check it out.

I also really liked:

1. The Negro Speaks of Rivers
2. Negro
3. October 16
4. Stoney Lonesome
5. I, Too
6. Democracy

4.5 stars

[Maryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

50,000+ stars

Do I even have to explain why?? This collection is a pure masterpiece💛.

[Francisca Ramos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forever in love with Langston Hughes 🫶🏻🙏🏻

[Derek Driggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just beautiful. He was special and he lives on in his words.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tinder box, a treasure chest.

[Cherisa B · Rating 5 out of 5]

The depth, breadth, feeling, impact are just astonishing. So much is still so relevant, so moving, so touching. And there is fun and liveliness in there too.

How did I not learn or memorize any of his poems till now? Just some of the ones in this collection I love:

The Negro Speaks of Rivers - I’ve known rivers
Aunt Sue’s Stories
Negro
The Weary Blues - Droning a drowsy syncopated tune
Border Line
Luck - ... to some people love is given
Fantasy in Purple - ... blow one blaring trumpet note of sun
Trumpet Player - ... Trouble mellows to a golden note
Final Curve
Crossing - It was that lonely day
Magnolia Flowers - The quiet fading out of life

[Tahereh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remembering university classes and the first ones that never die...

Dream
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to the dreams
For when dreams go
life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, socialist, homosexual and columnist. He began writing poetry when he was a young teenager. His newspaper column ran for twenty years in the 1940s and 1950s. Hughes uses the rhythms of African American music, particularly blues and jazz in his poetry. Later in his life Langston Hughes was called the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race," a title he enjoyed and encouraged.

Hughes meant to represent the race in his writing and he was, perhaps, the most original of all African American poets. (Source: http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossin... )

Hughes’ poetry will sing to you. He was named the Class Poet in his eighth grade class. Hughes said that he was one of two blacks in the class, but everybody (but not him, he reported) knew that Negroes (the polite term in those days that Hughes used) had rhythm! As an adult, some of his moves were to escape racial discrimination. Hughes attended Columbia University for one year but left because of discrimination. His first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He was twenty-four and had that one year of college.

Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in "Montage of a Dream Deferred." His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets of the period—Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen—Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.

In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote eleven plays and countless works of prose, including the well-known “Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind, Simple Stakes a Claim, Simple Takes a Wife, and Simple's Uncle Sam. He edited the anthologies The Poetry of the Negro and The Book of Negro Folklore, wrote an acclaimed autobiography (The Big Sea) and co-wrote the play Mule Bone with Zora Neale Hurston. Source: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

Some academics and biographers today believe that Hughes was homosexual and included homosexual codes in many of his poems, similar in manner to Walt Whitman. Hughes has cited him as an influence on his poetry. Hughes's story "Blessed Assurance" deals with a father's anger over his son's effeminacy and "queerness". To retain the respect and support of black churches and organizations and avoid exacerbating his precarious financial situation, Hughes remained closeted.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston...

The poetry in Selected Poems of Langston Hughes is almost all very short, some as short as two or three lines, hardly any more than a page. His poems are moments, glimpses, feelings, vignettes, riffs. He has gospel and god damn. He has humor but can surprise you with serious, something hard to deliver in just a few lines.

Vagabonds

We are the desperate
Who do not care,
The hungry
Who have nowhere
To eat.
No place to sleep,
The tearless
Who cannot
Weep.

Quite a few Hughes poems could be Tweets! 144, a gross of characters that catch a loose idea.

Ennui

It’s such a
Bore
Being always
Poor.

Sea Calm

How still,
How strangely still
The water is today.
It is not good
For water
To be so still that way.

Little Lyric (Of Great Importance)

I wish the rent
Was heaven sent.

Langston sings the blues.

Down and Out

Baby, if you love me
Help me when I’m down and out.
If you love me, baby,
Help me when I’m down and out,
I’m a po’ gal
Nobody gives a damn about.

The credit man’s done took ma clothes
And rent time’s nearly here.
I’d like to buy a straightenin’ comb,
An’ I need a dime fo’ beer.

I need a dime fo’ beer.

Langston laughs.

Heaven

Heaven is
The place where
Happiness is
Everywhere.

Animals
And birds sing –
As does
Everything.

To each stone,
“How-do-you-do?”
Stone answers back,
“Well! And you?”

Hughes doesn’t use big words or arcane allusions to make his points.

Ballad of the Girl Whose Name Is Mud

A girl with all that raising,
It’s hard to understand
How she could get in trouble
With a no-good man.

The guy she gave her all to
Dropped her with a thud.
Now amongst decent people,
Dorothy’s name is mud.

But nobody’s seen her shed a tear,
Nor seen her hang her head.
Ain’t even heard her murmur,
Lord, I wish I was dead!

No! the hussy’s telling everybody –
Just as though it was no sin –
That if she had a chance
She’d do it agin’!

Hughes is not all fun. Not at all. He wrote of the terror of his day.

Ku Klux

They took me out
To some lonesome place.
They said, “Do you believe
In the great white race?”

I said, “Mister,
To tell you the truth,
I’d believe in anything
If you’d just turn me loose.”

The white man said, “Boy,
Can it be
You’re a-standin’ there
A-sassin’ me?”

They hit me in the head
And knocked me down.
And then they kicked me
On the ground.

A klansman said, “Nigger,
Look me in the face –
And tell me you believe in
The great white race.”

Hughes tells of the future. He calls for justice.

Democracy

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Not ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.
I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

I enjoyed reading Langston Hughes. I knew just what he was saying even when I did not share his experiences. I shared his dreams.

[Julio Pino · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blues had a baby and they named him Langston Hughes. The poet of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes took his rhythm from jazz, ragtime and the blues and his subject matter from pimps, prostitutes, gamblers, musicians and other street folk. He made Beale Street literally talk through these dazzling poems, selected by Hughes himself. Yet, this is the story of America and not just Harlem or even Black America. Like Walt Whitman, Hughes too "hears America singing", only he demands more voices be added to the choir. The South is beautiful, dusky, golden, and also the land of lynchers, Ku Kluxers and salary-robbing bosses. The North is the land of freedom, and of unemployment, racist cops and "We'll call you when there's a war on" Presidents. America itself has
"deferred the dream" of liberty and equality, with plenty of help from the Black preachers, sell-outs and bourgeoisie. This volume is worth reading just for the "Call Me Madam" poems in which Hughes voices the complaints of a Black matron too proud to call herself Black and too dark, and poor, to be called anything else by whites. My one criticism of this anthology is that Hughes deliberately omitted all of the poems he wrote when fellow-traveling for the Communist Party and visiting the Soviet Union, especially "Put Another S. in the U.S.A". Otherwise, this is sheer marvelous poetry in the American grain.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you ever go down to the river--
Two a.m. midnight by your self?
Sit down by the river
And wonder what you got left?
(..)
Down on the Harlem River:
Two a.m.
Midnight!
By your self!
Lawd, I wish I could die--
But who would miss me if I left?

[Emma Getz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit that I haven’t studied poetry in an academic setting enough yet to critique it structurally, but I do read my fair share of it, and this collection includes some of my absolute favorite poetry I have ever read. I love that Hughes is a vernacular poet but has a beautiful style of verse and rhythm at the same time. I love the way he portrays things like religion, music, and love. Every single poem is so genuine and truly speaks. Langston Hughes is no doubt one of America’s most talented and important poets and should be read by absolutely everyone.

[Saman]

پل را آهن
یه آواز غمناکه تو هوا
پل را آهن
یه آواز غمناکه تو هوا
هر وخ یه قطار از روش رد می‌شه
دلم می‌گه سر بذارم به یه جایی

رفتم به ایسگا
دل تو دلم نبود
رفتم به ایسگا
دل تو دلم نبود
دنبال یه واگون باری می‌گشتم
که غِلم بده ببرتم یه جایی تو جنوب

آی خدا جونم
آوازای غمناک داشتن
چیز وحشتناکیه
آوازای غمناک داشتن
چیز وحشتناکیه
واسه نریختن اشکامه که این‌جور
نیشمو وا می‌کنم و می‌خندم

[Bradley Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in school I used to hate poetry but as I’ve grown I’ve found a great appreciation for the skill it takes to become a poet. Hughes’s poems are moving, political and inspirational. I loved how they ranged from emotions of depression to ones of anger and strife. My favorite poem from this selection would have to be “Miss Blues’es Child” I’ve felt that feeling too often.

[إسراء Diab · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was introduced to Langston Hughes earlier this year and truly enjoyed the selection of poems I have read by him. I wanted to read and know more about him whenever I have the chance.

This collection was rich of amazing poems that told stories about Harlem, about his race's struggles, about oppression, discrimination and slavery, about his feeling towards his white father and black mother, in addition to number of poems about love, life, death and religion.

The collection seems to have covered everything Langston went through or has been interested in, which makes you feel closer to the poet as you read. You can easily conclude his ideas and point of view about life.

I personally loved the poems that described the lives of the blacks and denounced the whites supremacy. They were all my favorite poems; I think I loved every poem in the last section.

All in all I enjoyed the collection, and it encouraged me to read more poetry in general.

One of the things that I really liked about Hughes is his style. It is full of images, he uses easy language and smooth rhythm that make you feel and live the stories he is telling effortlessly.

4 stars!

A list of my favorite poems.

Madam and Her Might-Have-Been ** Ballad of the Man who's Gone
Who But the Lord ** Blue Bayou
Share-Croppers ** Ku Klux
Cross ** Children's Rhymes
Necessity ** New Yorkers
Ballad of the Landlord ** Drunkard
Theme for English B ** Night Funeral in Harlem
Blues at Dawn ** Neighbor
Silver ** I, Too
Freedom Train ** In explanation of Our Times
Democracy ** Consider Me
The Negro Mother ** Freedom's Plow
Cora ** Final curve
Homecoming ** Mama and Daughter
Ennui ** Little Lyric
50-50 ** Desert
End ** Suicide's Note
Late Last Night ** Reverie on the Harlem River
Early Evening Quarrel ** Water-Front Streets
A black Pierrot ** Genius Child
Tell Me ** Aunt Sue's Stories
Fire ** As I Grew Older
Let America Be America Again ** The Negro Speaks of Rivers