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The MY HERO Project | Library

Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

By Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad (Editor), David Roessal (Editor)

Publisher: Knopf Publishing 1995
ISBN: 0679764089
MY HERO recommends this book to readers of all age groups.
From the Publisher
Spanning five decades and comprising 868 poems (nearly 300 of which have never before appeared in book form), this volume is the definitive sampling of a writer who has been called the poet laureate of African America -- and perhaps our greatest popular poet since Walt Whitman. Here, for the first time, are all the poems that Langston Hughes published during his lifetime, arranged in the general order in which he wrote them and annotated by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel.

Alongside such famous works as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "Montage of a Dream Deferred," The Collected Poems includes the author's lesser-known verse for children; topical poems distributed through the Associated Negro Press; and poems such as "Goodbye Christ" that were once suppressed. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, the result is a treasure of a book, the essential collection of a poet whose words have entered our common language.

User Reviews:
veronica | 4/30/2009 11:25 PM
how old were he when started writing poetry


Langston Hughes began writing poetry in high school. His first pieces of poetry were published in the high school magazine called the Central High Monthly. (source:  http://www.kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1.html)

-- The MY HERO Library Staff

The MY HERO Library Staff | 1/28/2009 5:53 AM
Dear Deborah,


Here is what we have been able to locate online:
“Dream Deferred”
http://www.learner.org/catalog/extras/vvspot/video/hughes.html
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Langston-Hughes/2381
“Madam’s Past History”
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177392

“Madam and Her Madam”
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15607

“Madam and the Phone Bill”

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15606
Deborah O | 1/24/2009 11:30 AM
I am trying to find some of Mr. Hughes works that I have read in the past like Madame an the fortune teller, Madame and the landlord and also A dream deferred but I have been unable to get it/them online can you help me.  
Kenyontae | 12/3/2008 2:49 AM
i love i,too poem and i love LANGSTON  HUGHES
Selena | 4/23/2008 9:21 AM
I am a big fan of langston hughes. Eversince I was in third grade he has been my all time favorite poet. Though that great man is gone his poetry still lives on. I admire you Langston!!
easter hardy | 5/28/2007 3:17 AM
how can i find "hold fast to your dream"?


The poem is actually entitled, "Dreams."  You can find the poem online at

http://www.favoritepoem.org/poems/hughes/dreams.html
The poem is from Collected Poems (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994). Copyright © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes.

--The MY HERO Project  

kathleena | 4/4/2007 11:45 AM
i just loved this book...wow...im still speechless but i can just so relate. just pick it up and READ it..its truly just amazing...
nikki | 3/30/2007 3:15 AM
im doin a research & there is lots of great info on Langston Hughes!!!!!!
tj bates | 3/27/2007 3:01 PM
i love langston hughes. one of the best if not the best poet ever in my mind. he should be an inspiration to all writers
sha | 11/6/2006 1:26 AM
i can relate to the poem
kriza | 11/5/2006 5:09 AM
Langston hughes rocks, after doing a lot of research about him he has really touched my heart. After reading some of his poetry I feel that I can connect and bond to it. If you are interested in this author you should read "Dreams" and "Life is fine" they are both great poems written by Langston Hughes, in fact they are my favorite!!
person | 5/21/2006 2:04 PM
i love alomst every poem he has ever made he has great talent.
Miles Guerra | 4/27/2006 7:31 AM
He is the greatest of his time.
AYANA | 4/25/2006 12:37 AM
HE WAS A GREAT MAN
D'Asia | 3/6/2006 5:53 AM
His poems are so amazing! Langston Hughes was one of the greatest writers of all time.
True | 2/27/2006 7:28 PM
Langston Hughes is the greatest of his time he writes so vividly with the hurt of Black Folks hitting the surface with a uncanny impact. Yet the hope in his poems is equally as great.
LaRonda Jones | 2/18/2006 8:23 AM
Langston Hughes is my favorite. He makes you feel every word, as if the words come right off the paper. When I think of the power of words I think of him. He is what writing is about.
Raneisha Hurth | 2/16/2006 6:29 AM
I believe Mr.Hughes is a good poet.He has inspired me to follow my dreams,by writing poems.I started writing poems in my freshman year in highschool,thats when all my problems began to go on.As I went through my problems I started writing  my feelings down and by then I wrote my first poem.
stacy patrick | 11/17/2005 3:11 AM
the poem was great.
patricia | 6/21/2005 10:29 AM
its  so amazing that some people in the past actually devoted their time and energy to fight for the generation yet unborn.
May God bless the soul of Langston Hughes.
Lagston | 2/14/2005 1:29 AM
the only way that I got to know him is by reading his poems and I was realy happy to see this web site.
alysey | 2/4/2005 8:27 AM
I read one of his pieces the other day and I was so moved because I felt exactly like what he was saying.
LAQUINTA | 1/31/2005 10:03 AM
I LIKE THIS BOOK VERY MUCH
IT WILL MAKE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM
Danielle | 1/27/2005 10:29 AM
This is truly a great book and a very inspiring one. This book has encouraged me to be a writer. Knowing how it touched my heart I know that is something that I would like to do one day!
Juju | 10/30/2004 3:33 AM
I love this book. I recommend it to all readers that love poems. It's a really great book. An inspirational book I would say.
miriam | 10/11/2004 4:07 AM
reading this book will last me a life time. i enyoyed it more than going to 6 flags!
Kevin Thompson | 5/4/2004 1:40 AM
I find Langston Hughes to an extrem inspiration to all people in any age group.I have a story to tell anybody who reads this I was at apoint in my life were I had thought that I was not good enough to ever do somthing with what I write, but then one day I picked up the collected poems of langston hughes and I fell in love with it.
nicole arrington | 4/2/2004 1:50 AM
The book was wonderful.
Nicole Arrington | 4/2/2004 1:49 AM
Langston Hughes is a wonderful writer. I'm in the process of becoming a writer and Langston Hughes has inspired me.
Cristina Jones | 3/22/2004 10:33 PM
It was a very good book.

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