Three Harlem Renaissance Writers (Hughes, McKay, & Cullen)

Langston Hughes, known as "Harlem's poet," was very well-traveled. His poetry took on a wider scope than the other two writers here discussed, dealing with his life as an African American. Hughes was actually born in Joplin, Missouri, and moved to New York to attend Columbia University, in 1921. Hughes dropped out of Columbia after a year, lonely and unhappy, then became a seaman on a freight that sailed to Africa and Europe. In 1926, he returned to the United States from living in such cities as Paris and Rome. He published his first collection of poems, The Weary Blues, that year as well. "Negro Speaks of Rivers" was written in Hughes' youth, on a trip from Cleveland, Ohio, to Mexico on a visit to his estranged father. It was originally published in The Crisis, and Hughes continued to publish with them.

One of Langston Hughes' more publicized poems from that time is "Negro Speaks of Rivers." In this poem the author states, "I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in rivers." There is a parallel between humans and rivers. He paints a vivid picture in the mind of bathing in the Euphrates, and a hut he built near the Congo that, "lulled me to sleep." In this quote, home is personified: it 'lulled' him. You can clearly see the image of a man asleep in a hut, satisfied with his life by the river, happy and content with the fruits of his own labor. Perhaps when Hughes was near the Nile, he could see pyramids in the distance. Hughes also talks about the the Mississippi, where he's, "seen it's muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset". Here, again, the river is personified. 'Bosom' insinuates that the river has a maternal quality, nurturing his needs and feeding his curiosity and imagination. Twice, Hughes writes a single sentence to tie these rivers together: "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." He is a seasoned poet, who makes use of imagery to bring the rivers to life.

Claude McKay was born in Jamaica on September 15,1889, and raised in a strict Christian home. His brother exposed him to, "classical literature, socialist views, and the ideas of natural science and evolutionary naturalism." McKay began to develop literary and poetical talents. In 1907, he was persuaded by Walter Jekyll to try writing with a Jamaican dialect. This proved

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