A Voice of the Nation

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The early poems of Langston Hughes and Gwendolin Brooks remind of the words of Burning Spears song: Every other nation have their speaker, every other nation have their voice (Burning Spear). A topic of color is prominent for both authors; however, these two poets deserve to be considered not only the voice of the American citizens of color but the voice of the whole diverse and multicultural American nation.

The early poems of Langston Hughes represent him as a young, but disappointed realist:

Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world (Hughes).

His poems are not limited to his inner world; they reflect the authors world outlook through describing the severe social realities.

As well, Brookss early poetry is a motley tissue composed of the fragments of the usual small peoples lives. Attention to the details can be considered a peculiarity of the African American community, as their spirit still keeps the memory of the ancient African ubuntu concept, which implies

that every thought and every action of individual impacts the whole communitys life (Bordas 167).

Brooks and Hughes both absorbed the traditions of the literature of all times. Their poems form a bridge between ancient language and modern vernacular. Hughes uses Shakespeares image for his volume Shakespeare in Harlem. Brooks is a master of sonnets, which are widely represented in her early books. Her Sonnet-Ballad is remarkable in this dimension: talking about the pain of World War II, she uses the form of the ancient sonnet and keeps its style, providing a metaphor of a woman for death:

& Would have to court
Coquettish death, whose impudent and strange
Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort)
Can make a hard man hesitate and change (Brooks).

This small hyphen before the stunning words and change looks like a stubborn line on a mans grave, which hides his whole life between the dates of birth and death. The war-time poems of Brooks are a voice of a strong human who knew much suffering and learned much about death. This also reminds about Hughess short poem:

Dear lovely death
That taketh all things underwing-
Never to kill
Only to change& (Hughes 274)

This poem, also imitating the ancient style, is a thought of a wise and tired human who understood what death is, no matter how old he is. The difficulties of African American lives, multiplied by the Great Depression and the War, gave birth to a certain perception of life and death, courageous and philosophic, which draws a parallel between two poets. They managed to turn the prosaic life of a small human into a melodious song performed by these two powerful voices of the nation.

References

Brooks, Gwendolyn. The Sonnet-Ballad. Web. 2010.

Bordas, Juana. Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2007. Print

Burning Spear. Every Other Nation. Web.

Hughes, Langston, Arnold Rampersad, and Dolan Hubbard. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on Art, Race, Politics, and World Affairs. Vol. 9. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002. Print.

Hughes, Langston.The Dream Keeper. Web. 2010.

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A Voice of the Nation

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