Casey Killingsworth

The Black and Blue Collar Blues: Examining Notions of Labor in Langston Hughes's Poem "Good Morning Revolution" Casey Killingsworth

This book examines the notion of labor in Langston Hughes's "Good Morning, Revolution," a poem that calls the world's workers to revolution against the ruling class. Beyond a mere critical look at the poem, however, or only an attempt to extract a particular theme, it is an evaluation of the critical criteria that are traditionally utilized to address such literature, especially literature of marginalized authors. Hughes's poem has not weathered time well; for the most part it has been relegated to obscurity. In looking at whether or not the poem has been fairly treated, it is prudent to at least examine the template that has passed on this literary judgment in order to determine if the poem is just bad, or perhaps, instead, its value rests hidden beyond the reach of the template. In this assessment, Hughes's poem is contrasted with Carl Sandburg's "Good Morning, America," a poem Hughes takes to parody in constructing his own work. Also employed is Toni Morrison's idea that while the black voice in American literature has certainly not been commensurate with the historiography of America, even in silence that same voice has influenced the literary canon.