Man's Pleasure and Nemesis Langston Hughes is among the most prominent African-American poets during the Harlem Renaissance in the twentieth century. His major works revolved around the status of African-Americans in society. Hughes has written novels, short stories, plays, essays, an autobiography, and criticism, but he is most known for his poetry (Berry, Faith 54). He was only the second African-American to earn a living as an author. In his youth, Hughes' stepfather Homer Clark and …showed first 75 words of 1151 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1151 total…black young lover." Although the figurative language differs between Hughes' works, each poem symbolizes man's basic trials and tribulations or just basic routines in life. Nature symbolizes both the freedom as well as the pain and suffering in one experiences in the cause of freedom. Hughes' use of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism adds a deep figurative level to his poems. Therefore, nature signifies man's greatest desires as well as man's greatest fears (Barksdale, Richard K. 244).