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

Langston Hughes (Author), Arnold Rampersad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 18, 2001 | Series: COLLECTED WORK LANGSTON HUGHES (Book 1)

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.

Editorial Reviews

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

About the Author

About the Editor

Arnold Rampersad is Professor 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: University of Missouri; 1 edition (June 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826213391
• ISBN-13: 978-0826213396
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars cultural insight, July 12, 2008

By 

James Walker "uncle jamie" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Poems: 1921-1940 (The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, Vol 1) (Hardcover)

Excellent view of an emerging modernist culture in a time when little has been shared generally with the mainstream American history instruction in schools.

Uplifting and provocative in a positive way. For a whitebread middleclass American, I found this refreshing when compared to the mudslinging of the divisionist politics currently going on in the Presidential election.

Each culture has unique views and gifts to share, this was an enlightening view of the Black Culture I had not seen before. Rapping and Krumping glorify the street, these writings glorify the inner soul.

I am ordering Volume 2