Farewell—I’m gone with love away!” (Robinson,
20). In the latter, the speaker confronts his un-
faithful lover while confessing his undying love
for her:
Eliza, tell thy lover why
Or what induced thee to deceive me?
Fare thee well—away I fly—
I shun the lass who thus will grieve me... Eliza, pause and think awhile—
Sweet lass! I shall forget thee never:
Fare thee well although I smile,
I grieve to give thee up forever. (Robinson, 20)
Unlike these overly sentimental and almost
pedestrian lines and rhyme, however, Horton’s
discourses on freedom and slavery strike a deeper
note. In fact, he, unlike Wheatley and Hammon,
was the first black (written) versifier who ad-
dressed more candidly the direct relationship be-
tween race and slavery. For example, in “Slavery,”
the speaker almost militantly asks,
Is it because my skin is black,
That thou should’st be so dull and slack,
And scorn to set me free?
Then let me hasten to the grave,
The only refuge for the slave,
Who mourns for liberty. (Robinson, 21)In “The Slave’s complaint,” the speaker de-
mands, “Leave me not a wretch confined, / Al-
together lame and blind— / Unto gross despair
consigned, / Forever” (Robinson, 22).
According to Robinson, Horton seemed “always
aware of his unique role as an early black American
poet in a world of white unbelievers” (19). That
Horton took his role or calling as poet quite seri-
ously is recorded in his poem, “The Art of a Poet,”
in which his speaker declares:
A bard must traverse o’er the world,
Where things concealed must rise unfurled,
And tread the feet of yore;
Tho’ he may sweetly harp and sing,
But strictly prune the mental wind,
Before the mind can soar. (Robinson, 25)BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, Dickson D., Jr. The Origins of African Ameri-
can Literature, 1680–1865. Charlottesville: Univer-
sity Press of Virginia, 2001.
Robinson, William H., ed. Early Black American
Poets. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Company
Publishers, 1969.
Turner, Darwin T., ed. Black American Literature: Po-
e t r y. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publish-
ing Company, 1969.
Wilfred D. SamuelsHughes, Langston James Mercer
(1902–1963)
One of the outstanding American authors of the
20th century, Langston Hughes wrote poetry, nov-
els, nonfiction, drama, and short stories. Born
James Mercer Langston Hughes in Joplin, Mis-
souri, in February 1902, he spent his early years
living with his mother in the household of his
grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. It was from his
grandmother’s background that Hughes had ties to
political activists from the past. The grandmother,
Mary Langston, was an abolitionist herself and the
wife of Lewis Leary, who was killed as one of John
Brown’s army at Harper’s Ferry. Mary’s second
husband, Charles Langston, who was Hughes’s
grandfather, was also an abolitionist, and Charles’s
brother, John Mercer Langston, was an abolition-
ist who, in the 1890s, became a United States con-
gressman from the state of Virginia.
Despite that distinguished history, Hughes’s
parents were unable to maintain a stable environ-
ment for their son. His father had moved to Mex-
ico, leaving his mother a single parent who worked
various jobs to support Hughes and the grand-
mother. In this poor environment, Hughes found
escape in books, which led to an interest in writing.
Moving from Kansas to Lincoln, Illinois, and then
to Cleveland, Ohio, where he attended high school,
Hughes began publishing poetry and short fiction
in the school magazine. In 1921 he went to Mexico
to live with his father, but the stay was emotionally
disturbing. While there, Hughes taught English
and had his poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”256 Hughes, Langston James Mercer