ng so, he develops a “Blues aesthetic” which incorporates boththe reality of 1920s Harlem and an honest, gripping view of the human condition.Hughes’ use of this Blues aesthetic serves several functions; it brings an active quality tothe complexities of pain and it allows a reality of human understanding to come alive inhis poetry. Although White society tended to view Hughes’ appreciation of the folk asprimitive, “Low” art because it was so base, the poignancy and immediacy with which ittouched the lives of Harlem -- as well as the degree to which it still comprises aninextricable part of the literary world -- makes apparent the egregious error of this view.The intelligence and perceptive description in Hughes’ work effectively delineates thecomplexities of the African-American experience, thus elevating his writing to a state of“High” art. Similarly, his “Blues” pieces allow human struggles to exist as both poeticengagements of physical existence and healing processes in and of themselves,illustrating the artistic power of this transformation. In his poem “Negro,” Hughesoutlines various historical aspects of Black identity. He relates, “I’ve been a slave: Caesartold me to keep his door-steps clean. I brushed the boots of Washington” (4 - 6). Thesimplicity and directness of these statements allows a certain poetic immediacy, makingmisunderstanding nearly impossible. Additionally, Hughes’ mention of Caesar andWashington contributes an informed intelligence to his writing, as does the specificity of“the Woolworth building” (9) and “the Belgians cut[ting] off [his] hands in the Congo”(15). Hughes’ narrator, as a Black representative, has also “been a worker: under [his]hands the pyramids arose” (8). This observation illustrates the productivity and powerthat the African-American has the capability...
