| Product Summary | | Format: Hardcover | | ISBN: 9780679426318 | | Publisher: A. A. Knopf | | Publish Date: 11/1/1994 | | Buy.com Sku: 30116673 | | Item#: RGJLQY | | Dimensions (in Inches) 9.25H x 6.75L x 2.5T |
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| | | Here, for the first time, is a complete collection of Langston Hughes's poetry - 860 poems that sound the heartbeat of black life in America during five turbulent decades, from the 1920s through the 1960s. The editors, Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel, have aimed to recover all of the poems that Hughes published in his lifetime - in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals, and in his books of verse. They present the poems in the general order in which Hughes wrote them, and also provide illuminating notes and a chronology of the poet's life. Arnold Rampersad, the author of the esteemed two-volume biography of Langston Hughes, has written a perceptive and moving introduction that throws light on Langston Hughes's distinctive voice as a poet and the world in which he lived.
Annotation:
Hughes identified it as his mission as a writer "to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America." His poetry was heavily influenced by black oral tradition, jazz, and folklore, and he continually attempted to mirror the black experience, in all its diversity, in his work.
| Author BioArnold Rampersad has been the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature at Princeton University, in addition to having taught at Stanford, Rutgers, and Columbia universities. His first book was on a lesser-known work by Herman Melville, and he teaches American literature of all periods. Rampersad has distinguished himself as a biographer; his book on W.E.B. Du Bois and his magisterial two-volume life of Langston Hughes are cited as examples of the craft of biography. Rampersad collaborated with Arthur Ashe on his biography, DAYS OF GRACE. Rampersad wrote his highly regarded biography of Jackie Robinson with the cooperation of Robinson's widow and family. He has also edited and written introductions for a number of collections in American literature, has written numerous reviews and scholarly articles. Rampersad was the recipient of a MacArthur award, also known as "the genius grant."
| | Read A Chapter | Juke Box Love SongI could take the Harlem night and wrap around you, Take the neon lights and make a crown, Take the Lenox Avenue busses, Taxis, subways, And for your love song tone their rumble down. Take Harlem's heartbeat, Make a drumbeat, Put it on a record, let it whirl, And while we listen to it play, Dance with you till day-- Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl. Continues...
Excerpted from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughesby Langston Hughes Copyright © 1994 by Langston Hughes. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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