Follow this link to learn more about Langston Hugues.
Questions to consider:
Dream Variations
Dream Boogie
Good morning, daddy!
Ain't you heard
The boogie-woogie rumble
Of a dream deferred?
Listen closely:
You'll hear their feet
Beating out and beating out a -
You think
It's a happy beat?
Listen to it closely:
Ain't you heard
something underneath
like a -
What did I say?
Sure,
I'm happy!
Take it away!
Hey, pop!
Re-bop!
Mop!
Y-e-a-h!
Questions to consider:
- What about Langston Hugues's poetry would you consider to be inspired/influenced by jazz? Explain.
- How does Hughes's racial consciousness affect his writing?
Dream Variations
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me--
That is my dream!
To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.Dream Boogie
Good morning, daddy!
Ain't you heard
The boogie-woogie rumble
Of a dream deferred?
Listen closely:
You'll hear their feet
Beating out and beating out a -
You think
It's a happy beat?
Listen to it closely:
Ain't you heard
something underneath
like a -
What did I say?
Sure,
I'm happy!
Take it away!
Hey, pop!
Re-bop!
Mop!
Y-e-a-h!
Dream Variations
ReplyDeleteThis metaphoric poem is comparing the daylight to the color white and the darkness to the writer. I think Langston Hughes' racial conciousness affects his writing in a way that he brings it about in a settle way durning his poetry. He makes it some how fit into what he is talking about and uses his own dialect. I think this is inspired by jazz because while reading this poem you get a feeling of how the rythym is supposed to flow and you start to feel involed, like you are the person who wants to live out this dream. Dancing in the sun and sitting under the shade to watch the sun go down.
-Kendra Henderson
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ReplyDeleteIn dream variation, Langston Hughes used the jazz and music to take on the image of how the music resembles them from its unique characteristics of being a black person and the effects it has on him. He describes the night as, “dark like me” stating that it is of the same characteristics as he himself is. He gives the reader a really good picture of the way he dances using the words “Dance whirl whirl” and “fling my arms wide” to describe the motions and actions he uses as he dances. The sun plays its part as well because as you can see he states clearly that he dances in the face of the sun which to me sounds like his happy place.
ReplyDeleteJe'Nay Williams
pd 5
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ReplyDeleteKendra Henderson- I agree with you. I agree with you because reading this poem you get a jazzy vibe. I also agree with you because during the time period that Langston Hughes wrote this poem segregation was still going on. I think he feel since he's black his dreams will be deferred. But, what he dont realize is his dreams aren't beind deferred If he just had detemination and motivation then he would realize that he can do anything and mnake the impossible possible.
ReplyDeleteDestiny Dandridge
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ReplyDeleteLangston Hughes poetry is very inspiriting because of the way he describes things with such a passion. He is very descriptive and uses simile, metaphor, personification and many other ways that help his poems become great. Hughes racial consciousness doesn’t have an affects on his writing because he describes himself as being the dark night in Dream Variations. This seems that he appreciates himself and that is what makes his poems even better, because many people identified themselves with his writing.
ReplyDeleteVeronica Mendoza
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ReplyDeleteDream Variations is a really good poem because it really explains about the jazz and dancing. The poem explains with mind pictures how it makes him dance. He sets a mind picture in the way that it sets a perfect view of the setting, the time of day. Like when he uses "till the white day is done" is really describing the way the day was clear. "When the night comes on gently" is describing how gentle the night comes, how it fuses with the light of day.But the way that he keeps on repeating his race makes the poem seem kind of different and descriptive but then again sort of wrong. I think that it also gives it a certain rhythm.
ReplyDelete-Jessica Osornio
Anthony
ReplyDeleteI feel that Langston Hughes’ poems are very much influenced and/ or inspired by jazz and it is felt as you read. When you read one of his poems there is a certain beat that flows through as the words float off as they are read. In these poems there are also a lot of racial comparisons which makes you feel like you know what it was like being in Harlem during the Jazz era. This is a very skilled thing done by Hughes in many of his poems. Hughes was a great poet and his poems are a great way to see the world through him just as he saw it.
Jazz was created in New Orleans by the African American culture to get away from the hard times of society. Langston Hughes influenced poetry by describing racism in clever ways. Dream Variations is a poem that I had to read twice to understand. It really didn’t catch my interest like Dream Boogie. I guess it’s because Dream Boogie rhymed and I can understand how that can be related to jazz. Dream Variations can be related to jazz because it talks about hard times. To be honest I liked Dream Boogie more than Dream Variations. I don’t know why I just do
ReplyDeleteJoseph J.
Je'Nay, your post to this poem is really well. You used very descriptions and good words to describe the poem itself. As for my response t othis poem i think she could have added a litlle more details on Langston hughes life story and his feelings toward this poem. Other than that her response to this poem was very well. it included imagry so i can picture what she was talkin about also metaphors . good job Je'Nay
ReplyDeleteIn his poems he mentions dance and it gives the poem a rhythm. Ex: The boogie woogie rumble sounds like some form dance and re-bop is beat .so I believe his love for jazz is interpret in his poems which inspired his poetry. Also being that he was a part of the Harlem renaissance which was a big deal being an African American somewhat affects his writing. His dialect in this poem are southern like, somewhat of slang. Being that it was hard then, in his time, his conscious on racial comments are weak, meaning that people will be little him by his color.
ReplyDeleteQueen mukiibi
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ReplyDeleteVeronica and Kendra-I agree with veronica and Kendra on what they said because what they say sounds accurate. Veronica talks about how his racial consciousness is the source of his pride because he is glad to be what he is which is black. Kendra spoke briefly of his racial consciousness as well which was true to me as well, but what caught me was the way she mentions how the rhythm of the poems get the reader involved and they are able to see exactly what Langston is speaking about. You are correct when you say that, which is why I say it is the source of his pride. Jazz is the black peoples music and it is how they express themselves which seems to me , his motivation to write the way he does.
ReplyDeleteTo: Anthony
ReplyDeleteFrom: Jessica
I agree with you, the poem is really good. I love that you kind of sound poetic. You do feel that jazzy feeling when you read it. Yeah, his words do have some type of rhythm although I wouldn't say beat. The way he describes his words are very good chosen as well as yours. It is really nice the way that you commented. Everything is very well described. Langston Hughes is a very good poet and this poem is very skilled, I guess is all of his experience proven. You really took your time to write such a comment, very strong.I liked it very much.^-^
Destiny Dandridge
ReplyDeleteI agree with you because during segregation it was very hard for African Americans to be successful. They were turn down on many occasions, but Langston Hughes was one of many the people in the Harlem Renaissance that didn’t let it affect him that much and when it did his wife was always there to support him. He tried and tried until he finally became successful and now he is well-known for his poems among many people around the world.
Veronica Mendoza
Jessica- I agree with you in most case when you say that the setting is set in a perfect view because he did do that in mentioning the white day and the dark night. I don’t agree when you say he make the poems wrong by mentioning his race throughout because as I said. It seems to be the source of his pride because he is glad to be what he is which is black. It is the way he tells you cleverly that it is about him being black because when he wrote mostly it was during segregation. But everything else that you said about him dancing and the jazz I agree with.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, I agree with you but the only thing i disagree with you is when you said there is a beat to his poetry the only beat to poetry to me is rap. Langston Hughes is an awesome poet but he is not one of my favorites because I like a diverse poet that talks about more than one thing. If you like Langston hughes I see why
ReplyDelete@Kendra & Je’Nay & Jessica & Anthony: Both of you talk about how the rhythm of the poem makes it feel like jazz music. I would agree. I also think both of you have come up with some great images from the poems that Hughes creates in the readers mind.
ReplyDelete@Veronica: That’s great that you picked up on the personification. Night coming on gently and tenderly is not something we would normally associate with the environment. Hughes is giving the night human characteristics so that it has the human ability to comfort.
@Joseph: I like “Dream Boogie” better also. This is because I catch a tone of sarcasm. What is the sound of a dream deferred (a dream that has not been able to come true)? The sound is of course not happy music! However, perhaps the “boogie” is how the speaker deals with his problems.
@Queen: You’re definitely right that Hughes’s speaker does not feel equal in society. I think the speaker in “Dream Variations” finds comfort in the night because he makes it into something he can relate to.
Jessica Osornio
ReplyDelete5th Period 4/27/11
Shakespeare: To be, or not to be (from Hamlet 3/1)
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
Ms.Burton/ Kendra & Je’Nay & Jessica & Anthony
ReplyDeleteI see why you say they all gave good images from the poems that Hughes creates in the readers mind. Because all of them talk about things Hughes was saying in his poem. Their response made you think of how it was to be in the jazz era. It made you want to be apart of that time in history. Shows music was evolved and how many things it history changed. The way the poem is written makes you feel like you have been apart someone writing a jazz piece or singing one.
Shaquia Anderson