Langston Hughes was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, a large event in black history. Through his art he was able to convey his thoughts on politics and injustice that faced the black community. He became an incredibly successful artist, writing sixteen poetry books, multiple other genres of books, as well as plays, musicals, and operas. Hughes’s works focused on the struggle of African Americans in America. Notably, his poem ‘Mother To Son’ the poem’s centre is about a mother telling her son about life’s struggles: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor --Bare.” Langston Hughes uses the metaphor of stairs in this poem. He describes a worn down and
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He worked quite a few jobs before becoming a professional writer. During his life he lived among typical citizens and experienced hardships first hand. Hughes used his writing as an outlet for his thoughts and feelings. In Langston Hughes poem ‘Cross’ he writes about a person with a black mother and a white father. Hughes writes about the author feeling remorse about cursing their parents: “If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished she were in hell, I’m sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well.” In the south it was common for white men to have secret children with black women. Sometimes the woman was sent funds by the man for the child, but this poem show that the mother was not funded although the father was wealthy: “My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack.” The author the poem focuses on is clearly mixed race. They feel they are neither black nor white, stuck between two extremes: “I wonder where I’m going to die, Being neither white nor black?” Hughes uses a persona device since he is also bi-racial. A personal identity is what one makes of it, not what one is forced
He worked quite a few jobs before becoming a professional writer. During his life he lived among typical citizens and experienced hardships first hand. Hughes used his writing as an outlet for his thoughts and feelings. In Langston Hughes poem ‘Cross’ he writes about a person with a black mother and a white father. Hughes writes about the author feeling remorse about cursing their parents: “If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished she were in hell, I’m sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well.” In the south it was common for white men to have secret children with black women. Sometimes the woman was sent funds by the man for the child, but this poem show that the mother was not funded although the father was wealthy: “My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack.” The author the poem focuses on is clearly mixed race. They feel they are neither black nor white, stuck between two extremes: “I wonder where I’m going to die, Being neither white nor black?” Hughes uses a persona device since he is also bi-racial. A personal identity is what one makes of it, not what one is forced