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Langston Hughes was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance—a period of remarkable Black creativity from the 1920s until the mid-1930s. Hughes wrote “I look at the world” in 1930 during the period. Indeed, the poem reflects one of the core values of the Harlem Renaissance: It centers on a Black individual and their feelings. The poem begins: “I look at the world” (Line 1). This is how a Black person views America. The poem communicates what they see and how they perceive it; the speaker is not going to water down their thoughts to please others. Arguably, the speaker’s confidence and power to speak their truth about racism in the United States is bolstered by the Harlem Renaissance and its ability to provide, more or less, an unfiltered platform for Black voices.
Modernism is another literary context for “I look at the world.” Modernism is commonly associated with white writers and poets like Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, and T. S. Eliot. The emergence of big cities, advancements in technology, the rise of psychoanalysis, and the horrors of World War I shaped modernists and their view that the world, and the people in it, were fractured and alienated.
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Tired
Langston Hughes