The Ideological Features And Artistic Innovations Of Langston Hughes's Poetry

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is generally regarded as the most outstanding black poet among those springing up during the Black Renaissance, and one of the greatest writers in the 20th-century America. His great literary achievements result mainly from the two important factors, his social ideas penetrating his life-long literary career and his original innovations in poetic art.The soul of LH's social ideas lies in nationality, which is conveyed in his poetry constantly and firmly. First, he exposes in a bold way the real existence of American black people, including their undeniable racial identity, praise-worthy beauty and unescapable defects. His exposure of the last is a breakthrough of the then black tradition. In the second place, he spares no pains to demonstrate his people's sad social status and their dream of a better future. In his mind, the approaches to a better situation mainly includes violent struggle, self-remolding and moral reconciliation. The emphasis he places on the latter two factors demonstrates his unshakeable conviction in humanity and his tolerant mind.What is more valuable, however, is his transcendence from the limitation of a purely racial viewpoint and thus his ideas are of the natures of being American and being universal. On one hand, he believes that America should be a nation of pluralism, and that blackness an aspect of its diversity. On the other hand, he explores the relationship between his race and America and even the world, trying to seek the universal meanings through the experiences and feelings of his people. All the features of pluralism contribute to his transcendence of other black writers.The artistic innovations LH made in his poetry is an important device of conveying his social ideas and also one of his greatest literary achievements. Such innovations consist mainly of his poetic perspectives and techniques. In the first place, he, by breaking the taboo of the then black literature, has as the theme of his poems the real existence of black people, especially those common ones, in attemptto make a sound distinct from American cultural mainstream by taking advantage of and refuting the WASP racialist creeds and white religious materials. Secondly, LH draws on typical black cultural traditions such as black vernacular and black music as well as some modernist devices for new poetic techniques, which results in an anti-mainstream poetic genre.LH's ideological transcendence and artistic innovations lead to a new literary tradition with great significance and lasting influences on American literature and culture. First, this tradition set a milestone for American black literature in both the themes and artistic devices. Secondly, it marks a leap of American black aesthetic ideas. What is more important, LH has placed a profound and direct effects on black poetry, which has greatly enriched American literature and promoted the crippling of the hegemony of American white literature.