The Collected Poems

Questions About The Collected Poems

by Langston Hughes

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why would anybody read this guy? he supported lenin and thought the soviet union was great
Domhnall Supporting Lenin and admiring the Soviet Union was pretty widespread prior to WW2 and perhaps up to 1953. You would have to throw away an awful lot of…moreSupporting Lenin and admiring the Soviet Union was pretty widespread prior to WW2 and perhaps up to 1953. You would have to throw away an awful lot of major poets if you insist on that rather bigotted criterion. For Black Americans suffering the intense oppression of segregationist USA, Communism and the Communist Party were an indispensible support in the search for a political voice long after that time, as described for instance by Angela Davis. The American ideological aversion to all things Marxist is irrational and a mark of closed minds. Even when you strongly disagree with someone, it remains valuable to listen to what they have to say long enough to at least understand why they hold their views. That said, the reviews above suggest that a lot more than White Guilt is required to account for his popularity as a poet, and you may be interested too in a review at the following site - the source is in India, where White Guilt is hardly a factor - which sets out reasons to admire Langston Hughes as a poet and also as a political activist, as I do and many others. It was published in 1940 by the way, when you will notice that Hitler and Mussolini were still in power. http://www.yabaluri.org/CD%20&%20...(less)
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Is the poem "Projection" in this book?
Jackie Yes, pg 403 in my copy
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