Paradoxical Tunes
Born into an unjust world in 1902, Langston Hughes quickly experienced what would later influence his main purpose in life – racial and economic issues. Due to these issues, Langston became a fan of the way the Soviet Union was run and even went as far as to defend their practices. Although he was called to testify because he was believed to sympathize with the Soviet Union, he ended up explaining his adoration for the Soviet Union while on trial. Hughes only admired the way the Soviet Union was run because their citizens were all seen as equal – something he had been dreaming of would happen in America for years (The Poetry of Langston Hughes 913-916). In America, Hughes began using the blues and jazz rhythms to set the meter of his poems, adding a note of African American culture to his rhyme scheme. Hughes uses the poems “Dream Boogie,” and “The Weary Blues,” to create musical allusions that astound and veil the true meanings in his works.
Through Hughes’s poem, “Dream …show more content…
Through the use of his poem, “The Weary Blues,” Langston expands on the insurmountable abyss that lies between the common American and the disgruntled black man. The Blues, as Langston described them, was music that incorporated laughter with disaster. While the rhythms would cry out for help and understanding, the lyrics would merrily wave the rhythm’s serious tone away. And yet, the blues were never truly realized by the listeners unless they had previously experienced similar situations and were able to understand what the singers had gone through. In addition, the blues also influenced the form in which Hughes’s poems were written and dictated the length for each line. In order to keep the two forms of expression alike, Hughes chose to use short lines to replicate the short and choppy sentences one can find in most jazz and blues songs (Komunyakaa
Born into an unjust world in 1902, Langston Hughes quickly experienced what would later influence his main purpose in life – racial and economic issues. Due to these issues, Langston became a fan of the way the Soviet Union was run and even went as far as to defend their practices. Although he was called to testify because he was believed to sympathize with the Soviet Union, he ended up explaining his adoration for the Soviet Union while on trial. Hughes only admired the way the Soviet Union was run because their citizens were all seen as equal – something he had been dreaming of would happen in America for years (The Poetry of Langston Hughes 913-916). In America, Hughes began using the blues and jazz rhythms to set the meter of his poems, adding a note of African American culture to his rhyme scheme. Hughes uses the poems “Dream Boogie,” and “The Weary Blues,” to create musical allusions that astound and veil the true meanings in his works.
Through Hughes’s poem, “Dream …show more content…
Through the use of his poem, “The Weary Blues,” Langston expands on the insurmountable abyss that lies between the common American and the disgruntled black man. The Blues, as Langston described them, was music that incorporated laughter with disaster. While the rhythms would cry out for help and understanding, the lyrics would merrily wave the rhythm’s serious tone away. And yet, the blues were never truly realized by the listeners unless they had previously experienced similar situations and were able to understand what the singers had gone through. In addition, the blues also influenced the form in which Hughes’s poems were written and dictated the length for each line. In order to keep the two forms of expression alike, Hughes chose to use short lines to replicate the short and choppy sentences one can find in most jazz and blues songs (Komunyakaa