Langston Hughes was an influential figurehead in the civil rights movement.

b. Transition Sentence:

Langston Hughes was an influential individual because of the things that influenced his work as well as who his work influenced, which would otherwise be ignored if not analyzed from a historic standpoint.

c. Thesis Statement (must be present) _____________________________________

Langston Hughes's poems benefit from the analysis of a historicism standpoint more so than any other form of analysis.

a. Transitional Topic Sentence:

Many of Langton Hughes works are indirect and difficult to interpret

b. Claim:

Without historical context, many of Hughes's works become less meaningful.

c. Evidence (Quote):

“I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,”

d. Explanation:

The poem “I, Too” has lines that allude to the unequal treatment of races in America in the 1920s when it was published, which can be misconstrued without historical context.

a. Transitional Topic Sentence:

However, some of Langston Hughes's works are intensely direct.

b. Claim:

Some of Langston Hughes's works are do not need historical context as they are very direct.

c. Evidence (Quote):

I was a red man one time,

But the white men came.

I was a black man, too,

But the white men came.

d. Explanation:

The poem “Lament for Dark Peoples” has an easy-to-understand surface, but when taking into account the intentions of Langston Hughes the meaning changes with that understanding.

a. Transitional Topic Sentence:

Langston Hughes's works are influenced by the Harlem Renaissance.

b. Claim:

Because the Harlem Renaissance influences Langston Hughes's works it becomes important to analyze his works from a historical standpoint.

c. Evidence (Quote):

“What happens to a dream deferred?  

      Does it dry up

      like a raisin in the sun?

      Or fester like a sore—

      And then run?”

d. Explanation: 

Many of Langston Hughes's works have an easily found sense of rhythm based on the Harlem Renaissance musical influence.

Langston Hughes poems benefit from the analysation of a historicism standpoint as his works were not only influenced by the current events at the time, but they also influenced the world and shifted the paradigm.