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Langston Hughes: the Way from Protest to Spirituality in the Context of African American History

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Langston Hughes: the Way from Protest to Spirituality in the Context of African American History INTERNATIONAL BLACK SEA UNIVERSITY Faculty of Humanities (American Studies Direction) Langston Hughes: The Way from Protest to Spirituality in the Context of African American History GEORGE SHADURI Ph.D. Dissertation in Humanities (American Studies) Tbilisi, 2010 Scientific Supervisor: Professor Doctor Natela Doghonadze I confirm that the work corresponds to the field, is characterized by novelty, scientific and practical value and is presented by the format defined by IBSU ........................................................................ Signature.............................................. Expert: Professor Doctor Tamar Shioshvili ............................................................................. Opponents: Associated Professor Lali Jokhadze ...................................................................................... Professor Doctor Temur Kobakhidze ...................................................................................... I acknowledge that this is my own work ............................................................................ Signature ...................................... i Table of Contents Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ii List of Figures ...............................................................................................................................iv Abbreviations and Acronyms used in the dissertation ..................................................................v Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................vi Abstract .........................................................................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1. THE ORIGINS OF THE BLACK FOLK AND LANGSTON HUGHES’S POETRY: PROTEST VERSUS SPIRITUALITY ...................................................................... 7 1.1. The Philosophical and Literary Precursors of modern African-American Poetry and Langston Hughes: Protest and Spirituality ................................................................................... 7 1.1.1. The Rebellious Spirit of Romanticism ................................................................... 7 1.1.2. American Transcendentalism – the Bridge between Romanticism and Protest Poetry ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.1.3. Ralph Waldo Emerson as a Spiritual Precursor of Langston Hughes .................... 11 1.1.4. Henry David Thoreau: Both Rebellious and Spiritual ........................................... 13 1.1.5. Walt Whitman: the Rebellious Spirit of Democracy ............................................. 15 1.1.6. Walt Whitman: Overview of Imbedded Spirituality ............................................. 18 1.1.7. Paul Laurence Dunbar as a Precursor of the Folk Poetry of Langston Hughes ..... 20 1.1.8. Black Dialect Verse versus Standard English Verse ..............................................21 1.1.9. “Folk” Instead of “Race” Consciousness .............................................................. 22 1.1.10. “White thinking” in a Black Man ........................................................................ 23 1.1.11. Some Examples of Dunbar’s Protest Poetry ....................................................... 25 1.2. African American Precursors of Langston Hughes: the Aspects of Protest and Spirituality in their Works .................................................................................................................................. 26 1.2.1 “Curse of Ham” Determines the Destiny of African-Americans ........................... 26 1.2.2. The North vs. South Star ....................................................................................... 30 1.2.3. About Mulattoes .................................................................................................... 32 1.2.4. Harlemites and Antebellum Negro Protesters......................................................... 34 1.2.5. The Insurgent Priest ............................................................................................... 39 1.2.6. The Black Moses? .................................................................................................. 41 1.2.7. Sweet Home of Liberty .......................................................................................... 45 ii 1.3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 47 CHAPTER 2. PROTEST IN LANGSTON HUGHES’S POETRY: LITERATURE REVIEW. 49 2.1. On Langston Hughes as a Protest Poet of People .................................................... 49 2.2. On Folk Origins of the Protest in Langston Hughes’s Poetry ................................. 54 2.3. Comparative Analysis of a Protest Poem of Langston Hughes’s and One of the Harlem Renaissance Poets (Sterling Brown’s) ............................................................... 59 2.4. Comparative Analysis of the Folk (Blues) Poetry of Langston Hughes and a Piece of Traditional Folk (Blues) Poetry ....................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER 3. LANGSTON HUGHES AND “THE DECADES OF DISAPPOINTMENT”: FROM PROTEST TOWARDS SPIRITUALITY ....................................................................... 66 3.1. Langston Hughes about the Emancipation ........................................................................... 66 3.2. Some Facts from Religious Awakenings in America and their Importance for African American History ......................................................................................................................... 68 3.2.1. The First Great Awakening and its Importance ..................................................... 68 3.2.2. The Second Great Awakening and its Importance for Afro-American History ..... 70 3.3. The Poetry of Langston Hughes and its Relation to the Decades of Disappointment (1877- 1901) ............................................................................................................................................ 74 3.3.1. Langston Hughes and the Hopes of the Period of Reconstruction ....................... 74 3.3.2. The Relationship between the Blues and Spiritual Music with Reference to Langston Hughes ............................................................................................................. 86 3.3.3. The Secular and Non-Secular Definitions of the Blues and Their Significance in the Poetry of Langston Hughes .............................................................................................. 92 3.4. Quantitative vs. Qualitative Analysis of the Poems of Langston Hughes .......................... 114 3.4.1. Some Statistics Regarding Protest Component of LH’s Poetry ........................... 114 3.4.2. Some Statistics Regarding Spiritual/Religious Component of LH’s Poetry ........ 121 3.4.3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 130 CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................... 131 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 133 APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………………………… 140 iii List of Figures Figure 3.1. Natural major scale ............................................................................................ 88 Figure 3.2. Natural minor scale ............................................................................................ 88 Figure 3.3. Major pentatonic scale ....................................................................................... 89 Figure 3.4. Blues scale .......................................................................................................... 89 Figure 3.5. Major triad (C) ................................................................................................... 90 Figure 3.6. Minor triad (Cm) ................................................................................................ 90 Figure 3.7. Major triad with added 6th (C6) ......................................................................... 90 Figure 3.8. Blues (dominant) chord (C7) .............................................................................. 90 Figure 3.9. An example of a European ballad: “Amazing Grace” ...................................... 98 Figure 3.10. An example of the 12-bar blues: “Everyday I Have the Blues” ..................... 99 Figure 3.11. An example of the 12-bar blues: “Confusion Blues” .....................................100 Figure 3.12. An example of the 12-bar blues: “The Weary Blues” ....................................100 Figure 3.13. Shares of different categories of protest poems vs. total amount of protest poems in the poetic heritage of Langston Hughes during four creative decades ................................. 115 Figure 3.14. Shares of all poems with religious content vs. shares of blues poems with religious content in the poetic heritage of Langston Hughes during four creative
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