James Mercer …show more content…
Again in "Let America Be America Again", Hughes says "I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years." In comparison to the many African-Americans at the time who were, indeed, struggling with financial burdens, Langston Hughes knew nothing of this uncertainty he spoke of due to his sponser. The images of poverty that Hughes evokes through his poetry, contribute to the American notion of impoverished black Americans since the days of slavery, however, Hughes' life was very different from the notion he …show more content…
The Weary Blues' rhythmic and lyric-like style was greatly influenced by jazz music of the time. This connection between music and poetry paved the way for future styles of modern poetry, specifically the beat poets of the 1950's such as Allen Ginsberg (Tracy 2). Langston Hughes' poetry became so successful as readers sought sympathy in their daily lives. Hughes "drowsy syncopated tunes" evoked feelings of loneliness, sadness and other sentiments of the downtrodden. His simple language and slow rhythm share with the reader more of the "Weary Blues" feeling than the actual words in some poems (Cooke 1). In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", Hughes states that "I've known rivers ancient as the world and older that the flow of human blood in human veins." This poem focuses on the history of black slavery throughout the