Historical Analysis of Langston Hughes

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Historical Analysis of Poetry by Langston Hughes Langston Hughes created poems that had an idiomatic realism in an era that was filled with oppression and racial inequality toward African Americans. A historical analysis shows how cultural events molded the theme and influenced the work of Langston Hughes. Hughes wrote poetry in an era when colored people are struggling to be gain equal rights, and prove that they had more worth then just someone to plow the fields and do hard labor. This time period is known as the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes poetry shows a reader some of the everyday struggles that colored people had to endure. There is a sense of pride and accomplishment that seems to be rooted in Langston Hughes poetry. The poem The Dream Keeper shows the reader that it is possible to have a dream even in a world that is filled with racism and oppression. Langston writes, “That I may wrap them in a blue cloud-cloth away from the too-rough fingers of the world.” It gives the reader a sense that Langston feels that people need to reach for the sky when it comes to their dreams. In an era when dreams of colored people were scuffed at and belittled, Langston was able to write a poem to encourage people to dream big in a world that he said had “too-rough fingers of the world.” ( Hughes 2003 line 7 and 8). The poem Mother to Son is also a great poem that shows the reader that there was never a lack of determination by those that were under constant struggles to gain equality and a sense of belonging in an era that tore the dreams and ambitions of African Americans into smithereens. Hughes tells a story of a mother trying to relate to her son about the struggles that she has endured. She tells her son that life was not easy for her. “Life for me ain't been a crystal stair” (Hughes, 2004, line 2). The mother tells her son that even when

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