Selected Poems of Langston Hughes [Paperback]

Langston Hughes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 1990

With the publication of his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America.  The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night."  They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture.  They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life."

The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America."  It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

125th Street
50-50
Advice
Africa
Afro-american Fragment
American Heartbreak
Angels Wings
Ardella
Argument
As Befits A Man
As I Grew Older
Aunt Sue's Stories
Bad Luck Card
Bad Morning
Ballad Of A Man Who's Gone
Ballad Of The Fortune Teller
Ballad Of The Girl Whose Name Is Mud
Ballad Of The Gypsy
Ballad Of The Landlord
Bar
Be-bop Boys
Beale Street
Black Maria
A Black Pierrot
Blue Bayou
Blue Monday
Blues At Dawn
Boogie: 1 A.m.
Border Line
Bound No'th Blues
Brothers
Buddy
Cafe: 3 A.m.
Casualty
Catch
Children's Rhymes (1)
Chord
College Formal: Renaissance Casino
Comment On Curb
Consider Me
Cora
Corner Meeting
Could Be
Croon
Cross
Crossing
Dancer
Danse Africaine
Daybreak In Alabama
Dead In There
Deferred
Delinquent
Demand
Democracy
Desert
Desire
Dime
Dive
Down And Out
Dream
Dream Boogie
Dream Boogie: Variation
Dream Dust
Dream Variations [or, Variation]
Drum
Drunkard
Early Evening Quarrel
Easy Boogie
Elevator Boy
End
Ennui
Evening Song
Evil
Fact
Fantasy In Purple
Feet O' Jesus
Final Curve
Fire
Fired
Flatted Fifths
Freedom Train
Freedom's Plow
Fulfilment
Garden
Gauge
Genius Child
Georgia Dusk
Gone Boy
Good Morning
Graduation
Green Memory
Gypsy Melodies
Hard Daddy
Harlem
Harlem Night Song
Havana Dreams
Heaven
High To Low
Homecoming
Hope
Hope
A House In Taos
I, Too
In Explanation Of Our Times
In Time Of Silver Rain
Interne At Provident
Island (1)
Island (2)
Jam Session
Joe Louis
Joy
Judgment Day
Juke Box Love Song
Juliet
Kid In The Park
Kid Sleepy
Ku Klux
Lady's Boogie
Late Last Night
Letter
Life Is Fine
Likewise
Litany
Little Green Tree
Little Lyric (of Great Importance)
Live And Let Live
Long Trip
Love
Lover's Return
Low To High
Luck
Lunch In A Jim Crow Car
Madam And Her Madam
Madam And Her Might-have-been
Madam And The Census Man
Madam And The Charity Child
Madam And The Fortune Teller
Madam And The Minister
Madam And The Number Writer
Madam And The Phone Bill
Madam And The Rent Man
Madam And The Wrong Visitor
Madam's Calling Cards
Madam's Past History
Magnolia Flowers
Mama And Daughter
March Moon
Maybe
Me And The Mule
Mellow
Merry-go-round
Mexican Market Woman
Midnight Dancer: To A Balck Dancer In The Little Savoy
Midnight Raffle
Midwinter Blues
Migrant
Misery
Miss Blues'es Child
Monroe's Blues
Moonlight Night: Carmel
Morning After
Mother To Son
Motto
Movies
Mulatto
My People
Mystery
Natcha
Necessity
Negro
The Negro Mother
The Negro Speaks Of Rivers
Neighbor
Neon Signs
New Yorkers
Night Funeral In Harlem
Night: Four Songs
Nightmare Boogie
No Regrets
Not A Movie
Note On Commercial Theatre
Numbers
October 16: The Raid
Old Walt
One
One-way Ticket
Parade
Passing
Personal
Port Town
Porter
Prayer
Prayer Meeting
Preference
Projection
Puzzled
Question (2)
Railroad Avenue
Refugee In America
Relief
Request
Reverie On The Harlem River
Roland Hayes Beaten (georgia: 1942)
Ruby Brown
S-sss-ss-sh
Same In Blues
Sea Calm
Seascape
Shame On You
Share-croppers
Shout
Sinner
Sister
Situation
Sliver
Sliver Of Sermon
Snail
So Long
Song For A Dark Girl
Song For Billie Holiday
The South
Southern Mammy Sings
Spirituals
Stars
Still Here
Stony Lonesome
Strange Hurt [she Knows]
Street Song
Subway Rush Hour
Suicide's Note
Summer Evening
Sun Song
Sunday By The Combination
Sunday Morning Prophecy
Sylvester's Dying Bed
Tag
Tambourines
Tell Me
Testimonial
Theme For English B
Third Degree
Three Songs About Lynching: Silhouette
To Artina
To Be Somebody
Tomorrow
Troubled Woman
Trumpet Player
Ultimatum
Uncle Tom
Up-beat
Vagabonds
Wake
Warning
Warning: Augmented
Water-front Streets
The Weary Blues
West Texas
What?
What? So Soon!
When Sue Wears Red
Who But The Lord?
Widow Woman
Wine-o
Winter Moon
Wonder
World War Ii
Young Gal's Blues
Young Sailor
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

From the Inside Flap

With the publication of his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926, Langston Hughes electrified readers and launched a renaissance in black writing in America.  The poems Hughes wrote celebrated the experience of invisible men and women: of slaves who "rushed the boots of Washington"; of musicians on Lenox Avenue; of the poor and the lovesick; of losers in "the raffle of night."  They conveyed that experience in a voice that blended the spoken with the sung, that turned poetic lines into the phrases of jazz and blues, and that ripped through the curtain separating high from popular culture.  They spanned the range from the lyric to the polemic, ringing out "wonder and pain and terror-- and the marrow of the bone of life."

The poems in this collection were chosen by Hughes himself shortly before his death in 1967 and represent work from his entire career, including "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "Still Here," "Song for a Dark Girl," "Montage of a Dream Deferred," and "Refugee in America."  It gives us a poet of extraordinary range, directness, and stylistic virtuosity.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (September 12, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067972818X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679728184
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hughes is Pure, March 18, 2003

By 

Zachary J. Manes (Iowa City, IA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selected Poems: Langston Hughes (Vintage V-910) (Paperback)

I had read several Hughes poems before buying this book, but I will admit that I had no grasp on the extent of his talent. These vivid poems were chosen by Hughes personally before his death in 1967.

They do so well to paint a picture of the time he lived -- of the blues, of love, of passion, of choices. He writes about faith and protest in a way that will move you.

I have read all of the poems exactly as they are placed in the book several times. I think I keep going back to them because this is poetry free of pretense -- it is grounded in reality and in sorrow.

Independent of age, of your ethnicity, and of your literary grasp, you will enjoy these poems. Simple and superb -- read them out loud.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dreams Deferred, July 15, 2001

By 

booknblueslady (Woodland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes (Paperback)

Langston Hughes wrote poetry of exquisite pain and beauty throughout his life. His poetry can be sparse and rhythmic. It evinces visions of cities, the south, churches and deep muddy rivers.

Hughes touches on every subject important to life in 20th century America: family, friends, race, religion,love, music, prejudice and poverty. Each poem sparingly provides an image in words. Together these poems represent the great work of a true artist of the American Poetry.

One of his most popular and poignant poems is Harlem. It contains such beauty in his phrase - "a dream deferred" and such power in his words or does it explode?

I recommend this highly to anyone interested in modern poets and poetry.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He, too, sang America, October 14, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Selected Poems of Langston Hughes (Paperback)

"Selected Poems of Langston Hughes" is a rich selection from several decades of this poet's work. Hughes (1902-1967) is a poet of many moods and voices. His work is at times mournful, humorous, sensuous, or ironic. Many poems capture the rhythms of African-American vernacular speech. A number of narrative poems tell stories of Black life, and a number of his best poems feature female speakers. He also writes poems of social protest that deal with the anti-Black violence that has plagued the United States for so much of its history.

The poems in this book are divided into several sections. One of my favorite such sections, "Feet of Jesus," contains poems which evoke the prayers, preaching, and religious songs of African-American churches. "Madam to You" contains a number of poems in which Alberta K. Johnson tells her story. A strong-willed entrepreneur who often challenges authority figures, "Madam" is one of the most delightful characters in African-American literature.

The other sections of the book contain many of Hughes' most memorable poems: the sensuous "Midnight Dancer" ("Lips / Sweet as purple dew"), "Mother to Son" ("Life for me ain't been no crystal stair"), "Theme for English B" ("I am the only colored student in my class"), and "I, Too" ("I, too, sing America. / I am the darker brother").

The lines I quoted from "I, Too" may call to mind Walt Whitman's great American poem "Leaves of Grass." Indeed, I consider Hughes to be one of the great 20th century poetic heirs of Whitman, and "Selected Poems" is a magnificent testament to Hughes' passion and vision.