BioLangston Hughes is one of the scholars at the forefront of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born on February 1, 1902 and Died on May 22, 1967. His literary contributions leave a permanent mark on African American culture. In his poetry he frequently spoke of situations that would have been common in every day African American existence during that period and may still be present today. He came from a rather affluent lineage. His maternal Grandmother was one of the first women to attend Oberlin college and married his grandfather Charles Henry Langston who was from a well off family who were active in politics. His mother Caroline was a school teacher and she married an aspiring lawyer by the name of James Nathaniel Hughes. His parents later separated and his father left and went to Cuba before settling in mexico. Upon graduating high school Hughes went to Mexico to live with his father for a short time. Their relationship was strained but his father agreed to pay for his college tuition at Columbia University if Hughes agreed to study engineering. This was short lived and Hughes left college after completing a year. He worked odd jobs and while working as a busboy he met poet Vachel Lindsay and shared some of his own poetry. This lead to his works being published. His first collected works titled "The Weary Blues" was published in 1926. He went on to graduate from Lincoln University in 1929 and had several works published through out his career. He received several rewards including Harmon Gold Medal for Literature (1930) Guggenheim Fellowship (1935)Honorary Doctor of Letters, Lincoln University (1943)
NAACP Spingarn Medal (1960) American Academy of Arts and Letters (1961) "Cross" is a especially interesting poem because though Hughes did not suffer the exact same situation expressed of the poem of having a white father and a black mother. He comes from a long line of white grandfathers and black grandmothers. Both of his parents were of mixed race and Hughes himself was Scottish, African American, French, and Native American. He would have understood the uncertainty expressed in the poem. “Hughes’s own relation to authenticity remained a trouble one, though, and much of his work can be read as complicating, rather than affirming, received notions of authenticity. Despite his apparently confident interventions in the definition of blackness, Hughes was hardly an obvious candidate for the echt-authentic African American writer. He was Northern, educationally if not economically privileged, self-consciously racially mixed, give (even if ambivalently) to aestheticism, and sexually nebulous if not gay-none of these attributes traditionally associated with “authentic blackness.” “ (Thompson, 67) |
ANALYSISCross is one of Hughes racially charged poems. The tone shifts through out the poem and in a short 12 line span Hughes takes the reader on an emotional journey. In the beginning of the poem the speaker appears to be bitter and the tone is somewhat disdainful. "If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If I ever cursed my black old mother and wished she were in hell, I'm sorry for that even will And now I wish her well." (lines 3-8) These lines implicate that the narrator at some point has been upset with his or her parents and conveys a feeling of contempt. The speaker is at odds with his parents' differences and the impact they have had on his or her life and identity. These same lines are indicative of a child now seeking redemption. The speaker is asking for forgiveness for his previous afflictions and the poem takes on a sorrowful or regretful tone. In the last lines a sense of confusion resonates through the words. "I wonder where I'm going to die, Being neither white nor black?" (lines 11-12). The speaker is lost and has not clear path before him or her. It is understood where a white man will die and where a black woman will die but because this individual is somewhere in between he or she is unsure of their destiny. The speaker has no real place in the world, no sure identity, and cannot identify with the white community or the black community.
The diction in this poem is also a key factor in the understanding of the situation. Hughes distinctively draws parallels between two contrasting elements to enhance the clear disparity. He emphases on the differences experienced in life by the white father and the black mother. He also uses repetition of the terms black and white to point out the significance of race. The term cursed is often repeated as well and can possibly be hinting that the speaker feels cursed by his racial identification. There are also clear negative connotations with being black and positive connotations for being white. The only commonality between his mother and father is the feelings of scorn the speaker clearly feels for them and even that balance is tipped some because while he curses them both he does not curse his father to hell as he has his mother. This implies that even in his curses he shows favor to his white father. The poem ends in a question to reinforce the feeling of confusion. It's a question that cannot be answered which adds to the uneasy feel of the poem. Symbolism is also apparent in the structure of the poem. Hughes cleverly titles the poem "Cross" which has several interpretations. The speaker is cross or vexed with his/her parents and also crossed internally. The cross is also a symbol of the crossroad he/she has come upon in which their path is shrouded in confusion. His racial ambiguity is also his cross to bear. In life there is always a trial or tribulation for each person and this burden is his. The cross also has religious connotations. Hughes is possibly hinting at the sacrificial son. The speaker feels as if he has been left out to hang or sacrificed to society. In that same aspect he is seeking redemption for his sin against his parents and this can be tied to religion as well under "thou shall Honor thy mother, thou shall honor thy father." This poem holds a real life application experienced by many African Americans. It was not uncommon to have a white ancestor and being of mixed race would have had the consequence of being shunned from both heritages. Hughes was know for his realism and portrayals of the African American condition. " In 1940 Richard Wright, praising Langston Hughes's contribution to the development of modern American literature, observed that Hughes's "realistic position" had become the "dominant outlook of all those Negro writers who have something to say." (Patterson, 1) |