Summary

Langston Hughes, an African American poet, was inspired by jazz. This is evident in his poem "The Weary Blues," which describes a speaker listening to a "Negro" jazz musician. We also discussed how the arrangement and organization of the lines and words doesn't seem planned, which makes it like jazz, which is largely improvizational. Hughes was a member of what became known as the Harlem Renaissance, which allowed Blacks to further the meaning of Modernism.

Hughes poem "Mulatto" is primarily a conversation between a boy of mixed race and his white father. The father seems to be very angry at the boy for claiming the man as his kin. The man also seems to reminisce about unlawful deeds he has committed in the past against African American women.

"I, Too", by Hughes, compares to poems of Walt Whitman in that he "swaps bodies" and writes from the perspectives of others. Whitman represents democracy and talks about America and in this poem Hughes seems to put forth an obvious echo of Whitman's work saying that African Americans need to be counted as people in this country as well. Hughes also echos Whitman in "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" with a first person perspective that seems to travel through time and space like Whitman in "Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry." The narrator expresses a sense of pride in the experiences in lines 4-7.

Many of Claude McKay's poems are Italian sonnets, many of which contain a shift in the 9th line.  An example of this happening is in his poem "The Lynching".  The setting in the first 8 lines of the poem is at night, and the setting in the 9th line changes to day. "The Lynching" makes reference to the crucifixion of Jesus by describing the hanging of an African American. 

Word Count: 299

Passages

• "His Spirit in smoke ascended to high heaven./His father, by the cruelest way of pain,/Had bidden him to his bosom once again;/The awful sin remained still unforgiven." The first four lines from McKay's "The Lynching" describe the death of a person, most likely African American, by relating him to Jesus and the crucifixion. This presents a powerful point; from the context, it is evident that the person in the poem suffered a painful death, and may have been a well known member of the Black society, judging by the women who come to see him. Overall, McKay uses this powerful metaphor to express his disgust for the treatment of African Americans in the nation.
• "Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play." The first three lines of Hughes' "The Weary Blues," makes reference to the speaker, not the musician. At first it seems as though the musician is being described, but the last line insures that it is actually the speaker describing himself as he hears the music of the jazz musician. The long vowel sounds in the first few lines with the words, "droning", "drowsy",  and "mellow croon", create a slow, sad feeling.
• "I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young./ I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep./ I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it."  These lines are from "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Hughes.  This poem can easily be compared to poems by Walt Whitman.  Hughes uses "I," allowing the speaker to cross vast distances of time and space.  These lines begins with a reference to the Cradle of Life (Euphrates), a time before race divided us, and carries through to Eygpt (Nile), where Blacks were enslaved.  These lines show the purpose of the poem well: to link to past locations and past accomplishments.

Key Terms

• The Harlem Renaissance- A time that was dedicated to uplifting the African American race.  During this time, art was created that examined the experience of African Americans.  They were not interested in "whitewashing" black life.  Main purposes: 1. To uplift the race (Talented Tenth), 2. To create/sponsor art created by African-Americans, 3. To have art that examines the experiences of African-Americans.
• Syncopated- Displace the beats or accents in (music or a rhythm) so that strong beats become weak and vice versa.