Throughout African American history several individuals have made significant impacts that would change things forever. In 1900, Harlem became the governing body for the birth of jazz and blues. This also opened the door to a new era called the Harlem Renaissance. During this time a poet named Langston Hughes was introduced. Langston Hughes created poems that stood out to people. It had that jazz vibe mixed with the favorite articulate language. He could capture people's minds with the intensity of his writing and describe the struggles of what was happening to black people. Some individuals view Langston Hughes as the inspired poet of the Harlem Renaissance period. Mr. Hughes used his work to compare and contrast things to create the foundation for the Harlem Renaissance period. His poems made him a well-known poet in Harlem. In two of his poems, one titled "Mother to Son" and the other "Harlem", both present comparisons and contrasts between the two. The poem "Mother to Son" is more of a free-flowing lyric poem. In this poem Langston Hughes conveys the message with a powerful attack. The poem is narrated from the point of view of a mother and the wisdom she gives to her son, as read in the following lines: Boy son, don't look back, don't sit on the steps, for you find it harder, don't fall now. .. because I'm still going, darling, I'm still climbing, and life for me hasn't been a glass staircase. [14-20]These series of lines express the frustrations of a mother who has gone through a difficult time and is telling her son her story. He is telling his son that this is the adversity he had to face to become who he is today in spirit. ...... middle of sheet ...... 49d7df7a>Rampersad, Arnold. "Introduction. (THREE POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES) (critical essay)." Poetry 4 (2009): 327. Academic OneFile. Network. November 13, 2013. Hansen, Tom. "Hughes' Harlem." Explicator 58.2 (2000): 106. Biographical Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Network. November 13, 2013. Thrall, William Flint, et al. A literature manual. New York: Odyssey, 1960. Rampersad, Arnold. "Langston Hughes and His Critics on the Left." The Langston Hughes Review 5.2 (Fall 1986): 34-40. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Debora A. Schmitt. vol. 108. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Literature Resource Center. Network. November 13. 2013.