Poem Critique #1

Matt Mailloux

Poem Critique #1

Rap and Spoken Word

9/2/12

            Langston Hughes’s “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” was about a Negro artist being proud of their culture, and in doing so showing other Negroes that it was perfectly acceptable to be who you are. 

            The poem is written in the context of the 1920s, following what Hughes believed to be a major problem during that time period: that blacks felt that they were not as good as whites, and therefore tried to assimilate themselves into white culture.

            This poem is most definitely a confessional. 

            The greatest literary device that Hughes used in this poem was lyrical poetry.  He used his words to show readers how unjust it was for the middle-class Negroes to live their lives hoping to become more similar to whites rather than be proud of their own race.  He also used narrative poetry, as he began the poem telling a small story about a poet who said he did not want to be a Negro poet.  Hughes also told stories about middle-class Negro families and of a Negro artist who stays true to himself.  The tone of the poem was that Hughes was saddened, but also angry.  He wanted to enlighten people to understand what he believed was right, and fight the racial injustice with him. 

            The role of race is the style of the artist.  To say that one style is worse than another is more of an opinion than a definite.  Hughes continuously says that artists should be proud of their own work, and this ties directly to blacks being proud of their race.