詹姆斯·兰斯顿·休斯(James Langston Hughes,1902～1967),美国历史上最著名的黑人诗人,生于密苏里州(Missouri)。休斯早年经历坎坷,生活在社会底层。干过水手、厨师和侍者等粗杂活,但他酷爱诗歌。中学时被同学称为“班级诗人”。他的诗歌获得社会赞誉是从1925年开始的。当时,他正在华盛顿一家旅馆当杂工,碰上前来参加诗歌朗诵会的著名诗人林赛(Vachel Lindsay,1879～1931)。休斯把自己发表过的3首诗放在林赛的餐桌上便匆匆离去。于是,通过林赛的发现和引荐,休斯成了受人瞩目的“侍者诗人”。20年代中期,黑人文艺运动风起云涌,休斯积极参加并迅速赢得了“哈莱姆桂冠诗人”的美名。在此后的岁月里,休斯写下了大量的各种体裁的文学作品,成为美国黑人文学的杰出代表人物。休斯多才多艺,但主要成就在诗歌。他的诗在措辞上以直 James Langston Hughes (1902–1967), the most famous black poet in American history, was born in Missouri. Hughes experienced the ups and downs in his early years and lived at the bottom of society. He worked with sailors, cooks and waiters, but he loved poetry. When he was middle school, he was called by the classmate “class poet”. His poetry received social praise from 1925. At the time, he was working as a handyman at a hotel in Washington DC and came across Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931), a famous poet of the poetry recital. Hughes hurriedly left his three published poems on Lindsey’s table. Thus, through the discovery and introduction of Lindsay, Hughes became a notorious “waiter poet ”. In the mid-1920s, the black art movement was surging, and Hughes actively participated in and quickly won the reputation of “Harlem Laureate Poet”. In the following years, Hughes wrote a large number of literary works of various genres and became an outstanding representative of African American literature. Hughes was versatile, but the main achievement was in poetry. His poems are straightforward in wording