I chose to do my research on Langston Hughes because he wrote some of my favorite poems. Those poems being ” I too” and “Harlem ( A dream deferred ). Langston Hughes, fully named James Mercer Langston Hughes was born on Febuary 1st on 1901 in Joplin Missouri. Ā Langston wrote his first poem in 1921 called ” The Negro speaks of Rivers” which won an Coretta Scott King Book award in 2010 and was meet with great praise back in the day. One aspect of Langston Hughes life that caught my attention that i previously didn’t’t know was him being homosexual. Langston would keep his sexuality and even his life private and would hint at his homosexuality in his poems, He did this to follow in the steps of his “Literary hero” Walt Whitman who was known as the father of Free verse. Arnold Rampersad who was Langston Hughes Biographer wrote this about him “Hughes found some young men, especially dark-skinned men, appealing and sexually fascinating.”
One of Langston Hughes most popular works “Let America be America again” is a poem about the dreams of lower classed citizens and their disadvantages not being realized but theres still hope that one day their wishes will come true. Another type of work that Langston Hughes wrote besides poetry was a novel called “Not without laughter” The book was successful enough to make Langston pursue a permanent career in writing. He then wrote a collection of short stories named “The ways of white folks” On May 22 1967, Langston Hughes passed away due to complications from abdominal surgery.
Sources:Ā https://www.biography.com/people/langston-hughes-9346313
Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets that we have covered this semester. His story is truly awe inspiring especially what he stood for. i like that you highlighted some of his achievements and some of his awe inspiring work.