Whitman and Hughes

Paper Summary:

At first glance, Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes could not be more dissimilar. Hughes, a black writer of the 20th century, spoke out for black values and rights. Whitman, a white nature-lover, wrote of nature, sentiment, and emotion long before it was considered fashionable. The paper shows, however, that the two men clearly both had a love of language and words and wrote about things they passionately believed in, whether the beauty of nature, or the rights of every man. The paper also relates the fact that both are considered poets of their generation.

From the Paper:

"That is not to say that all of Whitman's work was sunny and uplifting, and Hughes was dark and thought provoking. Both poets wrote eloquently of their thoughts, but also of the world around them. The difference was their experiences. Whitman wrote of nature, love, and the intellectual thought of the United States in transition after the Civil War. Hughes wrote of the black experience in the United States before and during the fight for Civil Rights. While their outlooks could not possibly have been the same, they wrote of their ideals and their hopes, giving them common ground."

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