Transcript The Life of Langston Hughes

The Life of Langston Hughes
Agenda:
The of Langston Hughes
Do Now:
What facts/info should we know about an
author before we read his/her works?
What info can help us understand better?
Facts
James Langston Hughes
Born in Joplin, Missouri in 1902
Parents:
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mother - school teacher, who wrote poetry.
father - storekeeper, who wanted to be a
lawyer, but he was denied to take the bar
exam.
Deeply influenced by Carl Sandburg
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unrhymed free verse
Facts Continued
Supported by his father, Hughes entered
Columbia University in New York.
Against his father’s wishes, Hughes dropped
out, and participated in jazz and blues activities
in nearby Harlem.
Wanting to see the world, he enlisted as a
steward on a freighter bound to West Africa.
He traveled to Paris, worked as a doorman and
a bouncer of a night club, and continued to Italy.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” – 18 years old
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First major, published poem
facts continued
Considered a leading voices in the
Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s
In his works, Hughes portrayed
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people, whose lives were impacted by
racism and sexual conflicts
southern violence
Harlem street life
poverty, prejudice, hunger, hopelessness.
facts continued
He used the social, political, and
religious aspects of the African
American experience as stepping
stones for poetic expression.
Hughes' poetry announced to the world
that the streets of black America
contained a culture rich and vibrant and
fiercely poetic.
What to expect
in Hughes’ Poems
The poetry Hughes crafted over the
course of his lifetime was filled with
rhythm and beat.
His stanzas weave wildly smooth
tunes about life as a black American.
From: “Note On Commercial
Theatre”
But someday, somebody'll
stand up and talk about me
and write about me
black and beautiful
and sing about me
and put on plays about me!
I reckon it'll be
me myself!
Yes, it'll be me.
My old man's a white old man
And my old mother's black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.
If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I'm sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well
My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder were I'm going to die,
Being neither white nor black?
Day 2
Agenda:
What will we learn from Langston Hughes?
Do Now:
1. Review the notes on the life of Langston Hughes
2. Which fact about his life do you feel is most
important in understanding his work? Explain
EXPLAIN= Complete Sentences, Why
What we will learn
Why is Langston Hughes considered a
great American poet?
What was the influence of Africa and
African-American history on his work?
What were his achievements as a poet,
and what effect did they have on
society?
What literary devices did he use?
The Literary Devices of Langston
Hughes
Imagery, Mood, Tone
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
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.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down
to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden
in the sunset.
I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
One Way Ticket
I pick up my life
And take it with me
And I put it down in
Chicago, Detroit
Buffalo, Scranton
Any place that is North and East – And not Dixie.
I pick up my life
And take it on the train
To Los Angeles, Bakersfield,
Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake,
Any place that is
North and West –
And not South.
I am fed up
With Jim Crow laws,
People who are cruel
And afraid,
Who lynch and run,
Who are scared of me
And me of them.
I pick up my life
And take it away
On a one-way ticket –
Gone up North,
Gone out West,
Gone!
HARLEM
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
What will be our activities?
Create an Author Brochure with PowerPoint
Use an Image Map to study Hughes’ works
Write a Literary Response to his works
Create a tribute website
Make a travel brochure to 1920’s Harlem
Model: Imagery, Mood, Tone
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Agenda: Themes & Symbolism
Do Now: When I hear the word “hypocrisy”
what do I think of?
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Hypocrisy – possessing positive attitudes &
actions that you do not actually follow.
Please write your response in “free verse”
Symbolism & Theme
Symbolism
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A person, place or thing that represents
something else. It represents something
concrete, tangible.
Theme
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The message about life or human nature that
is “the focus” in the story the writer tells.
"Let America Be America Again," published in Esquire and in the
International Worker Order pamphlet A New Song (1938),
pleads for fulfillment of the Dream that never was. It speaks of
the freedom and equality which America boasts, but never had.
It looks forward to a day when "Liberty is crowned with no false
patriotic wreath" and America is "that great strong land of love."
Hughes, though, is not limiting his plea to the downtrodden
Negro; he includes, as well, the poor white, the Indian, the
immigrant--farmer, worker, "the people" share the Dream that
has not been. The Dream still beckons. In "Freedom's Plow" he
points out that "America is a dream" and the product of the seed
of freedom is not only for all Americans but for all the world. The
American Dream of brotherhood, freedom, and democracy must
come to all peoples and all races of the world, he insists.
The American Dream is bruised and often made a travesty
for Negroes and other underdogs, Hughes keeps saying, but
the American Dream does exist. And the Dream must be
fulfilled. In one of his verses he put it more plainly. He might
have been speaking to his harshest political critics or to the
white youths who beat him up on that long-ago summer day
in Chicago.
Listen, America-I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.
Homework
You will write a Literary Response to
Langston Hughes about the “American
Dream”
Your Letter should be at least 1 page long
and should include the following:
Thoughts/Feelings on 2 of his works
Questions/Reactions to his life and/or
accomplishments
A 4-8 line poem that you want his advice on
2/7/05
Agenda:
Using Literary Terms to understand the
poetry of Langston Hughes
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Imagery, Mood & Tone
Do Now:
Please explain the Mood & Tone of the poem you
wrote for homework in complete sentences
Symbolism
Wake
Tell all my mourners
To mourn in red -Cause there ain't no sense
In my bein' dead.
Symbolism
“Suicide's Note”
The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
From: “Note On Commercial Theatre”
But someday, somebody'll
stand up and talk about me
and write about me
black and beautiful
and sing about me
and put on plays about me!
I reckon it'll be
me myself!
Yes, it'll be me.
Tone
"Note on Commercial Theatre"
You've taken my blues and gone –
You sing 'em on Broadway
And you sing 'em in Hollywood Bowl,
And you mixed 'em up with symphonies
And you fixed 'em
So they don't sound like me.
Yep, you done taken my blues and gone
You also took my spirituals and gone
You put me in Macbeth and Carmen Jones
All kinds of Swing Mikados
And in everything but what's about me –
But someday somebody'll
Stand up and talk about me –
Black and beautiful –
And sing about me,
And put on plays about me!
I reckon it'll be
Me myself!
Yes, it'll be me.
Imagery
“Dream Deferred”
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Agenda: Author Brochures
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Do Now:
Make sure your homework is in your folder,
ready for submissions
Next Quiz: Thursday
Literary Circles
Refer to the directions on the board.
The following slides will offer instruction
Response 1
TOP SECTION:
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Write the line of the poem you will respond to
BOTTOM SECTION:
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What are your thoughts, feelings, reactions to
the poem?
How does this line drive the poem?
Why did you choose this particular line?
Response 2, 3, 4
TOP SECTION:
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Your response to the line from the poem
THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE YOU READ
ANY OF THE PERSONAL WRITING
BOTTOM SECTION:
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Your response to the personal piece of
writing:
Agree/Disagree?
What else can you say? Can you add an opinion,
reaction?