The Truth

After reading Langston Hughes poetry I have decided that it was a big waste of my time.  There are three reasons that I do not like his poetry.  1) I'm not African American.  Yea that's the truth.  All of his poems are geared toward a culturally different way of life.  The language and that he uses don't connect with me and make me laugh. 2) My favorite poem is called "Baby" and it is the most ridiculous piece of writing I have ever read.  When I read it, the first thing that came to my mind was, "What if I had attempted to write this during the poetry emulations?"  The answer?  I suspect that Mrs. Hayes would be angry because I wasn't taking the homework seriously.  However, Hughes writes it and it becomes part of a famous collection of poems. 3) Finally, I wish I had picked a better book to read.  I finished the book in three days and realized that I hated it and would have nothing to talk about while blogging.  Well somehow I managed to finish.  Now for the fourth quarter I hope there is some book on the list that I over looked the first three quarters that can hold my interest.

animoto

http://animoto.com/play/G0ZYEtIqXRFUe7J19yb2ZA

In this video I broke down the message that Hughes was trying to get across in all his poems.  That message is that blacks need to assimilate a little into new cultures, but they cant forget their roots.  Either as an individual or their African heritage.  Also, in a lot of Hughes poems, he talks about children and young adults.  I think this is him saying that the future generations are also very important.  I choose the jazz music because some of his poems could be songs sung by African American singers.  Overall this animoto turned out nicely, and Hughes have even liked my poems.

Poetry taken to the next level

For this post I used a website called imagechef to take on of Hughes poems and make it appealing to look at as well as read.  I choose "Song for a Banjo Dance".  This poem sounds like it would be sung in a racially segregated bar down by the river.  An old woman with missing teeth might be singing the words in a course voice while a young black man does some sort of jig or dance to the beat.  This is the image that is conjured in my head while I read this book.  It doesn't even sound like it should be in a poetry collection.  When I think of poetry I think of the likes of Longfellow and Whitman.  Of course those two talk about different subjects in their poems, but Hughes wrote a song which is different than any poem I've ever read,

Picture Blog

The Dream Keeper and other poems is the book that I decided to read for 3rd quarter bloggs.  At first I was skeptical about reading a book of poetry that is based toward African Americans, and I still am.  I defiantly don't connect on all the themes, but Ive been trying.


This is Langston Hughes.  He wrote The Dream Keeper and other poems.  In it he talks about black culture and social injustices.


One of Hughes themes is how black can be beautiful.  He came from a time when being black was demode.


Hughes writes many of his poems about the working class blacks.  He connects with the common man on many levels in nearly all of his poems.


When someone reads Hughes poems they feel that he is trying to translate African culture into poems.  All of his poems beautifully illustrate the transition.  His poems also remind blacks never to lose faith in their culture.


Many times Hughes talks about how important it is to keep family at the center of your life.  From young children, to future wives and husbands, to grandparents, family is important.  It almost seems like Hughes can't stress this theme enough as you read his poems.


Many times a Poem from "The Dream Keeper and other poems" will have one poem that is hear wretchedly sad. Then, two or three poems later Hughes will have a happy upbeat poem.  This style keeps the readers emotions doing 180's throughout the book.


A lot of Hughes poems could be old spiritual songs sung by African Americans during slavery.  Other poems are upbeat songs that condone happiness and good times.  Both types of song poems make me imagine and old black woman singing.


Hughes wants blacks to never forget their roots.  Fist in the air would appeal to Hughes very much, as it symbolizes black power.


African American art was probably an inspiration for Hughes when he was writing poetry.  These artistes appealed to the visual senses while Hughes appealed to the hearing.


A lot of Hughes poetry talks about kids growing up.  This baby reminds me of my favorite poem in the collection "Baby".


A lot of Hughes poems sound like African American spirituals.  He writes in a rhythmic beat and the words melody makes you tap your feet.  This is a different style of poetry than I have ever read.

Boring

In the beginning I thought that Langsten Hughues would be capable of writing poetry that catches my interest.  However, after reading The Dream Keeper I realize i was wrong.  I thought that reading some poetry would help with the assignment that was being assigned to our class at the time.  The assignment was to write poetry.  My initial intentions was to pick up on some of the habits that an esteemed poet must posses.  However, as I read the first few poems I realized that if I emulate Hughes I would be deemed a mega racist. To understand how racist Hughes really is the reader simply has to change the black derogatory words, symbols, and phrases to white terms.

The Negro
I am a Negro(Cracker):
Black(White) as the night(sun) is black(white),
Black(White) like the depths of my Africa(Confederacy).

Oh...
Yea...
The Dream Keeper just became the most racist book ever.
Did Hitler write it?
Nope!

And that is just the first stanza of one poem.  This is a major double standard that ssociety allows.



VS