Beaming Notes
Your Guide to Literature

In this poem, Hughes says that America, which was supposed to stand for democracy and equality, no longer embodies such values. Parallely, a voice in the poem speaks in an aside saying that the American Dream was never a plausible reality for him. This, says Hughes, is the voice of all disenfranchised citizens of the… Continue reading Let America Be America Again Summary by Langston Hughes

Infant Joy is taken from the collection of Songs of Innocence, and thus one can find the elements of innocence and carefree hovering in the poem. Before we adapt a critical analysis of the poem, we should know something about Blake’s theory of poetry and his religious views. This is help in better understanding of… Continue reading Infant Joy Analysis by William Blake

‘In Time of Silver Rain’ was included in the 1947 collection of Langston Hughes’s poetry entitled Fields of Wonder. The word “wonder” in the title of this poetry collection is echoed in the last line of the first stanza of ‘In Time of Silver Rain’. The poem itself does not have a definite rhyme scheme.… Continue reading In Time of Silver Rain Analysis by Langston Hughes

‘In Time of Silver Rain’ is arguably one of the simplest poems ever written by Langston Hughes. Hughes (1902-1967) is an African-American poet whose poetic career spanned the period ranging between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is best known for two things – first, as a major exponent of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural… Continue reading In Time of Silver Rain Summary by Langston Hughes

‘I Dream a World’ is a typical Langston Hughes poem, with its mixed tone of hope and skepticism. This, however, is not detectable at first reading of the poem and will go unnoticed unless the poem is read through several times with an eye to a critical examination of each and every line in it.… Continue reading I Dream a World: Analysis

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an African-American poet writing about the social situation of the African-American community living in cities and suburbs all across the United States between the 1920s and the 1960s. He is best-known as a major exponent of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement of the African-American community. This movement was aimed at… Continue reading I Dream a World Summary by Langston Hughes

The first stanza of Hughes’s ‘Dream Variations’ can be divided into two units of four lines each, and an additional ending line. Similarly, the second stanza of the poem can also be divided into two units of four lines each, but here the difference is that there is no additional ninth line. In both the… Continue reading Dream Variations Analysis by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is an African-American poet writing between the 1920s and the 1960s. This entire period was one of black intellectual awakening, with the Harlem Renaissance and the Back to Africa movement framing the opening of the period in the 20s, and the Black Arts movement closing it off in the 60s. Hughes was… Continue reading Dream Variations Summary by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is an African-American poet, who wrote about the struggles of the people of his own community living in urban and semi-urban areas all across the United States. He addressed both the practical difficulties faced by them in their daily lives, living as they did in a white-dominated world, and the emotional problems… Continue reading Dream Boogie Summary by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was greatly influenced by the theory of ‘double-consciousness’ proposed by W. E. B. DuBois, the first African-American to earn a doctorate. Hughes and DuBois were contemporaries, and both played major leading roles during the Harlem Renaissance. Thus, this kind of mutual influence-sharing was only natural. DuBois’ theory said that African-Americans resented being discriminated… Continue reading Dream Boogie Analysis by Langston Hughes