I am working on critical thoguth questions for one of Hughes's poems and I need help
Jazzonia by Langston Hughes
Oh, Silver tree!
Oh, Shining rivers of the soul!
In a Harlem cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
A dancing girl whose eyes are bold
lifts high a dress of silken gold.
Oh, singing tree!
Oh, shining river of the soul!
Were Eve's eyes
In the first garden
A bit to bold?
Was Cleopatra grogeous
in a gown of gold?
Oh, shining tree!
Oh, silver rivers of the soul!
In a whirling cabaret
Six long-headed jazzers play.
What is the poems real meaning? I do not understnad the poem.
He's comparing a girl that he sees dancing in a Harlem nightclub to Eve- the first woman and Cleopatra- the most beautiful.
pam
Is the form one I should recognize (but don't)? Not exactly a rondel or rondeau, no. What about the title? Suffix -onia, I mean. Perhaps it indicates it is 'about' jazz itself. I have heard of Miltonia and Dickinsonia, but they appear to have separate definitions. Macedonia and pneumonia are not about mace and pneu, either, I don't think.