15. Langston Hughes

Modern Poetry (ENGL 310) with Langdon Hammer

The poetry of Langston Hughes is considered as a representation of the African-American experience. The distinctive concerns of Hughes's poetic project are juxtaposed with the works of other modernists, such as Pound, Eliot, Frost, and Stevens. Hughes's interest in and innovative use of musical forms, such as blues and jazz, is explored with particular attention to their role in African-American culture, as well as their use by Hughes to forge an alternative to dominant modes of expression within the modernist canon.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Langston Hughes Poem: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
10:26 - Chapter 2. Black Voices in Modern Poetry
21:31 - Chapter 3. Continuities between Langston Hughes and Other Modern Poets
32:00 - Chapter 4. Langston Hughes Poem: "Song for a Dark Girl"
43:25 - Chapter 5. Langston Hughes Poem: "Life Is Fine"

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2007.