Poetry

Poetry and Volumes of poetry

Langston started writing poetry in high school. Hughes would frequently contribute to his school magazine and would submit poems to other magazines but he ultimately got rejected. He sought to honestly portray the joys and hardships of working-class black lives, avoiding both sentimental idealization and negative stereotypes.

When Hughes was visiting his father in Mexico he wrote his first great poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". In 1921 The Crisis magazine published his poem. In 1925, Hughes’ poem “The Weary Blues” won first prize in the Opportunity magazine literary competition. In 1936 Langston published one of his most celebrated poems  "Let America Be America Again". This poem examined the unrealized hopes and dreams of the country's lower class and disadvantaged. Hughes later revised and republished "Let America Be America Again" in a small anthology of poems called A New Song. In 1951 Hughes published a poem called "Harlem" that talked about  how the American Dream falls short for African Americans.

Hughes also had volumes of poetry published. In 1926 Hughes's first book of poetry "The Weary Blues" was published. The book established his poetic style and his commitment to black themes and heritage. In 1927 he published his second volume of poetry "Fine Clothes to the Jew".