The Poems: 1921-1940 (The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Vol 1) (Volume 1) - Hardcover

Hughes, Langston; Rampersad, Arnold

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826213391 ISBN 13: 9780826213396

Publisher: University of Missouri, 2001

Synopsis

Volume 1 includes the complete texts of four books of verse by Hughes, including his first book, The Weary Blues (1926), and his second, Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), as well as other poems published by him during and after the Harlem Renaissance. The Weary Blues announced the arrival of a rare voice in American poetry. A literary descendant of Walt Whitman ("I, too, sing America," Hughes wrote), he chanted the joys and sorrows of black America in unprecedented language. A gifted lyricist, he offered rhythms and cadences that epitomized the particularities of African American creativity, especially jazz and the blues. His second volume, steeped in the blues and controversial because of its frankness, confirmed Hughes as a poet of uncompromising integrity. Then in the 1930s came Dear Lovely Death (1931) and the radical A New Song (1938). Poems such as "Good Morning Revolution" and "Let America Be America Again" made his pen one of the most forceful in America during the Great Depression.

About this title

About the Author

About the Editor
Arnold Rampersad is Professor Emeritus of English at Stanford University in California. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous publications, including The Life of Langston Hughes, Jackie Robinson: A Biography, and, with Arthur Ashe, Days of Grace: A Memoir. He is a 2010 recipient of the National Humanities Medal.

About the Author
Langston Hughes was one of the most influential and prolific writers of the twentieth century.

Review

"Rooted in the black experience, [Hughes's] poems are driven by the same democratic urge that inspired Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, and William Carlos Williams."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"[Hughes] is one of the essential figures in American literature....By his work and his example, he has enriched our lives."—New York Times Book Review

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Missouri
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0826213391
• ISBN 13: 9780826213396
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296