The cover page is adapted from The Prodigal Son, a painting completed circa 1926 by Aaron Douglas. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Douglas_(artist)www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
Poetry
Chapters (229)
- Fairies 0:00
- Winter Sweetness 0:17
- Signs of Spring 0:30
- An April Rain Song 0:56
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers 1:29
- Aunt Sue’s Stories 2:15
- The Lament of a Vanquished Beau 3:21
- Mister Sandman 4:22
- Autumn Thought 6:12
- Thanksgiving Time 6:28
- The Negro 7:21
- Question 8:07
- Mexican Market Woman 8:27
- The New Moon 8:45
- To a Dead Friend 9:03
- My Loves 9:45
- The South 10:20
- Laughers 11:28
- Danse Africaine 12:23
- After Many Springs 13:13
- Beggar Boy 13:33
- Song for a Banjo Dance 14:07
- Mother to Son 15:16
- When Sue Wears Red 16:06
- A Black Pierrot 16:43
- Justice 17:21
- Monotony 17:35
- Dreams 17:56
- Poem: For the Portrait of an African Boy After the Manner of Gauguin 18:15
- Our Land 18:44
- The Last Feast of Belshazzar 19:36
- Young Prostitute 20:01
- Jazzonia 20:14
- Shadows 20:56
- Cabaret 21:21
- Winter Moon 21:41
- Young Singer 21:53
- Prayer Meeting 22:12
- Poem: The Night Is Beautiful 22:34
- The Little Frightened Child 22:54
- My Beloved 23:23
- The White Ones 23:36
- Grant Park 24:00
- Gods 24:36
- Fire-Caught 24:59
- Song for a Suicide 25:18
- Prayer for a Winter Night 25:44
- Lament for Dark Peoples 26:31
- Fascination 27:02
- Poem: We Have Tomorrow 27:28
- Mammy 27:46
- Dream Variation 28:00
- Afraid 28:40
- Subway Face 28:57
- A Song to a Negro Wash-Woman 29:15
- The Poppy Flower 31:31
- Troubled Woman 31:44
- Johannesburg Mines 32:03
- To Certain Intellectuals 32:20
- Steel Mills 32:36
- Negro Dancer 33:01
- Liars 33:29
- Sea Charm 33:55
- The Dream Keeper 34:22
- Song: Lovely, Dark, and Lonely One 34:41
- Poem: Being Walkers with the Dawn and Morning 35:09
- An Earth Song 35:31
- I Too 36:04
- Drama for Winter Night 36:36
- God to Hungry Child 37:51
- Poem to a Dead Soldier 38:19
- Park Benching 39:35
- Rising Waters 40:01
- The Weary Blues 40:21
- Prayer 42:07
- Poem: To F. S. 42:24
- America 42:43
- To Certain “Brothers” 45:39
- Suicide’s Note 46:09
- Fantasy in Purple 46:18
- To Midnight Nan at Leroy’s 46:51
- Young Bridge 47:29
- The Jester 47:47
- Soledad 48:19
- Poem: To the Black Beloved 48:41
- Cross 49:21
- Summer Night 49:58
- Disillusion 50:49
- Jazz Band in a Parisian Cabaret 51:17
- Minstrel Man 52:00
- Nude Young Dancer 52:26
- Songs to the Dark Virgin 52:55
- Young Sailor 53:42
- Joy 54:17
- Strange Hurt She Knew 54:43
- Star Seeker 55:14
- Lullaby 55:37
- Salome 56:16
- The Ring 56:38
- Midwinter Blues 57:08
- Gypsy Man 58:07
- Ma Man 59:03
- Love Song for Lucinda 59:47
- Teacher 1:00:18
- Minnie Sings Her Blues 1:00:58
- Listen Here Blues 1:01:41
- Fortune Teller Blues 1:02:26
- Judgment Day 1:03:15
- Wide River 1:03:47
- Homesick Blues 1:04:27
- Ruby Brown 1:05:06
- Formula 1:06:10
- Autumn Note 1:06:36
- For Dead Mimes 1:06:57
- New Year 1:07:11
- Epitaph 1:07:23
- To Beauty 1:07:38
- Bound No’th Blues 1:08:27
- Lonesome Place 1:09:16
- Misery 1:10:02
- Bad Luck Card 1:10:35
- Feet o’ Jesus 1:11:03
- Down an’ Out 1:11:23
- Fog 1:12:01
- Pictures to the Wall 1:12:21
- Walls 1:13:02
- Beale Street Love 1:13:20
- Dressed Up 1:13:35
- A House in Taos 1:13:58
- Suicide 1:15:38
- Hard Luck 1:16:17
- Po’ Boy Blues 1:16:51
- Red Roses 1:17:44
- Railroad Adventure 1:18:26
- Elevator Boy 1:19:24
- Stars 1:20:13
- Brass Spitoons 1:20:40
- The New Cabaret Girl 1:22:09
- Argument 1:22:53
- Saturday Night 1:23:23
- The Cat and the Saxophone 1:24:18
- To a Little Lover-Lass, Dead 1:24:55
- Harlem Night Club 1:25:20
- To a Black Dancer in “The Little Savoy” 1:26:03
- Blues Fantasy 1:26:23
- Lenox Avenue: Midnight 1:27:16
- Poème d’Automne 1:27:43
- March Moon 1:28:10
- As I Grew Older 1:28:32
- Harlem Night Song 1:29:37
- Ardella 1:30:06
- Pierrot 1:30:18
- Water-Front Streets 1:31:25
- A Farewell 1:31:49
- Long Trip 1:32:14
- Port Town 1:32:44
- Sea Calm 1:33:12
- Caribbean Sunset 1:33:26
- Natcha 1:33:41
- Death of an Old Seaman 1:34:03
- Sick Room 1:34:32
- To the Dark Mercedes of “El Palacio de Amor” 1:34:48
- Mulatto 1:35:15
- A Letter to Anne 1:37:04
- In the Mist of the Moon 1:37:34
- Song: Rocks and the Firm Roots of Trees 1:37:57
- For an Indian Screen 1:38:38
- Day 1:39:36
- Passing Love 1:40:17
- Lincoln Monument 1:40:37
- Song for a Dark Girl 1:41:10
- Gal’s Cry for a Dying Lover 1:41:39
- Desire 1:42:21
- Bulwark 1:42:37
- Wise Men 1:43:23
- Poem for Youth 1:43:42
- The Naughty Child 1:44:18
- Mona 1:44:37
- Ma Lord 1:45:23
- Tapestry 1:46:05
- Nocturne for the Drums 1:46:30
- Success 1:47:12
- Being Old 1:47:48
- Montmartre Beggar Woman 1:48:40
- I Thought It Was Tangiers I Wanted 1:49:04
- Dreamer 1:50:23
- Hey! 1:50:59
- Hey! Hey! 1:51:16
- Bad Man 1:51:28
- Closing Time 1:52:15
- Prize Fighter 1:52:47
- Crap Game 1:53:04
- Ballad of Gin Mary 1:53:20
- Death of Do Dirty 1:54:20
- Porter 1:55:32
- Sport 1:55:51
- Shout 1:56:12
- Fire 1:56:19
- Moan 1:56:59
- Angels Wings 1:57:39
- Sinner 1:58:03
- Cora 1:58:14
- Workin’ Man 1:58:33
- Baby 1:59:02
- Evil Woman 1:59:16
- A Ruined Gal 1:59:46
- Sun Song 2:00:25
- Magnolia Flowers 2:00:44
- Red Silk Stockings 2:01:20
- Young Gal’s Blues 2:01:46
- Hard Daddy 2:02:39
- Sunset—Coney Island 2:03:27
- Nonette 2:04:04
- Lover’s Return 2:04:34
- Mazie Dies Alone in the City Hospital 2:05:21
- Hurt 2:05:46
- Lady in Cabaret 2:06:03
- Dear Lovely Death 2:06:17
- Flight 2:06:44
- Aesthete in Harlem 2:07:04
- Anne Spencer’s Table 2:07:25
- Spring for Lovers 2:07:39
- Tower 2:08:05
- The English 2:08:15
- Afro-American Fragment 2:08:47
- Black Seed 2:09:36
- Pride 2:10:06
- Negro Servant 2:10:40
- Merry Christmas 2:11:26
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Langston Hughes was a leading poet in the Harlem Renaissance and a pioneer in the form of jazz poetry. While working as a hotel busboy in Washington, D.C. in the early 1920s, he was “discovered” by fellow poet Vachel Lindsay, who helped publicize his work. In 1926 he published his first poetry collection, The Weary Blues, which opens with one of his best-known poems, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” Themes he explores in his poetry include the lives of the Black working class, jazz and blues music, and race consciousness.
This Standard Ebooks edition compiles all of the publicly accessible poems by Langston Hughes known to be in the U.S. public domain, which is limited to about the first decade of his work.