The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

by Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad (Editor)

The definitive sampling of a writer whose poems were “at the forefront of the Harlem Renaissance and of modernism itself, and today are fundamentals of American culture” (OPRAH Magazine).Here, for the first time, are all the poems that Langston Hughes published during his lifetime, arranged in the general order in which he wrote them. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, the result is a treasure of a book, the essential collection of a poet whose words have entered our common language.The collection spans five decades, and is comprised of 868 poems (nearly 300 of which never before appeared in book form) with annotations by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel.Alongside such famous works as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and Montage of a Dream Deferred, The Collected Poems includes Hughes's lesser-known verse for children; topical poems distributed through the Associated Negro Press; and poems such as "Goodbye Christ" that were once suppressed

Genres: Poetry

1452 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2022

About the author

Through poetry, prose, and drama, American writer James Langston Hughes made important contributions to the Harlem renaissance; his best-known works include Weary Blues (1926) and The Ways of White Folks (1934).

People best know this social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist James Mercer Langston Hughes, one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry, for his famous written work about the period, when "Harlem was in vogue."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langsto...

Reviews

[Carly Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

so beautiful

[Jimgosailing]

“Hang yourself, poet, in your own words. Otherwise, you are dead.” - 1964

Easy to see how “Goodbye, Christ” caused controversy.

And lines that hit in “Let America Be America” again: “…(America never was America to me)…
…
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free.’

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek —…”

“Poem to a Dead Soldier”
’Death is a whore who consorts with all men’

- I really disliked the table of contents of this book: providing only a grouping title of poems by decade without any individual titles is useless.

I found Hughes’s language, his word choice, to be simpler, plainer than even Frost’s, but his approach was similar: examining small slices of what was before him; and while Frost often looked at nature, Hughes gives us slice after slice of human relations, race relations, and societal strictures

[The Gnome’S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful look into one of the masters of the art form. Hughes’ rhyming structure, metre, and symbolism are fantastic. The canvases that he creates with his words of Harlem, as well as movements, events, figures, and daily life as a Black person in the first half of the 20th century are so visceral, stirring, and unique. He depicts the struggles and joys of everywhere that he travels that create nuanced, realistic portrayals of the people and places he’s in, while also firmly standing on the side of justice. This is an essential read that I highly recommend to all!

[William Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author wrote quite a lot about the struggles of black people. It is telling that it was important to him. His struggles were real.

His life and experiences were important. It captured a time in the US when times were different. I learned from his book and experience.

This is an important book to read, comprehensive and long.

[Nicole ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the best poetry ever written. I studied Langston Hugehes poems for my English class, and I loved it 😊

[Barty (Bartholomew) Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really Harlem Renaissance of him