How to Write Poetry Like Langston Hughes

Harlem Renaissance writer, Langston Hughes, was a prolific novelist, columnist, playwright, and poet. Influenced by the work of his contemporary, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes became the second African American after Dunbar to earn a living from his writing. The poetry of Langston Hughes continues to inspire writers today, with its enduring themes of hardship and hope.

Instructions

1. Tackle racial tension directly. Hughes didn't imply or use imagery in his poems to describe the racial tension of his time; he was explicit about this issue in poems like "The Negro Artist" and "The Racial Mountain," with lines such as: "If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not / it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly, too."

2. Make your dream a central theme. In poems such as "Dream Deferred," "As I Grew Older" and "Dream Variations," Hughes makes his dreams and aspirations the central theme, and describes how they have changed over time.

3. Use harsh imagery. Hughes didn't shy away from harsh or ugly images in his poems. For example, in his poem "Dream Deferred," he asks if dreams deferred, "dry up...fester like a sore...stink like rotten meat...or crust and sugar over..."

4. Get political. In poems such as "Let America Be America Again" and "Democracy," Hughes asks tough questions about his country and its ideals of freedom and equality.

5. Portray hope in the midst of hardship. In his poem, "Mother to Son," Hughes uses the metaphor of stairs to capture a mother's advice to her son to persist in the face of uncertainty and hardship.