Selected Poems of Langston Hughes: A Classic Collection of Poems by a Master of American Verse

Selected Poems of Langston Hughes: A Classic Collection of Poems by a Master of American VerseFrom 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

From 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.

"Langston Hughes is a titanic figure in 20th-century American literature . . . a powerful interpreter of the American experience." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 09/12/1990
ISBN: 9780679728184
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.64lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.26w x 0.67d

Review Citations: Booklist 02/01/1992 pg. 991
Essence 03/01/2015 pg. 58