Reviews for Merchants and reform in Livorno, 1814-1868

The average rating for Merchants and reform in Livorno, 1814-1868 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-09-27 00:00:00 Marilyn Gauges I finally managed to read some Langston Hughes. [insert my longest yeah boy ever here] Ever since I set the goal to seek out more diverse literature, Hughes has been on my radar. If you look up African-America poetry, he's the one to come up. I thought it would be interesting to hear his thoughts, especially on race relations in the US, because he's from the older generation, being born in 1902, he was already in his 50s when shit hit the fan (which makes him 22 years older than James Baldwin, whom I usually consider the gramps). ;) How still, How strangely still The water is today, It is not good For water To be so still that way. Langston was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. Like many African Americans, Hughes has complex ancestry. Both of Hughes' paternal great-grandmothers were enslaved African Americans and both of his paternal great-grandfathers were white slave owners in Kentucky. [I mean, just imagine growing up with that in mind.] Some academics and biographers believe that Hughes was homosexual and included homosexual codes in many of his poems, as did Walt Whitman, whom Hughes said influenced his poetry. Hughes's story "Blessed Assurance" deals with a father's anger over his son's effeminacy and "queerness". His poetry and fiction portrayed the lives of the working-class blacks in America, lives he portrayed as full of struggle, joy, laughter, and music. Permeating his work is pride in the African-American identity and its diverse culture. "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind," Hughes is quoted as saying. Hughes stressed a racial consciousness and cultural nationalism devoid of self-hate. His thought united people of African descent and Africa across the globe to encourage pride in their diverse black folk culture and black aesthetic. From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Hughes' popularity among the younger generation of black writers varied even as his reputation increased worldwide. With the gradual advancement toward racial integration, many black writers considered his writings of black pride and its corresponding subject matter out of date. They considered him a racial chauvinist. Hughes wanted young black writers to be objective about their race, but not to scorn it or flee it. He understood the main points of the Black Power movement of the 1960s, but believed that some of the younger black writers who supported it were too angry in their work. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems is a classic collection of poetry from 1932. It is targeted at younger readers which is why it displays a simplistic language, and why it's, in general, quite straight forward with its message. Even though I enjoyed most of the poems, I felt quite disappointed by the collection as a whole. Going into this book, I thought that Langston's focus would be on social criticism and race relations.Sadly, that wasn't the case. Most poems read like mini-fairy tales or nursery rhymes, which I simply wasn't prepared for. My favorite poems were definitely the one in which Langston mused about the black experience - the struggles and joys of being black in the US. I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed' I, too, am America. Giving a voice to the hopes of black people of his day and age, I noticed another similarity between him and other black writers of his time: Hughes wrote 'the wall rose, rose slowly, slowly, between me and my dream'. Baldwin wrote about 'all the fears with which I had grown up, and which were now a part of me, rose up ike a wall between the world and me'. Wright mused about 'the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting themselves between the world and me...' It's fascinating how seperate from each other, they all chose this similar way of phrasing. It becomes very apparent how all of these writers felt pretty alienated from their society, how they felt like they were delibaretly being excluded, and how they were forced to process their articifical 'inferiority'. My favorite poems is one of the last ones, which was actually not included in the original collection The Dream Keeper. It's a poem that actually made me cry because it is so gut-wrenching and raw: Where is the Jim Crow section On this merry-go-round, Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from White and colored Can't sit side by side. Down South on the train There's a Jim Crow car. On the bus we're put in the back' But there ain't no back To a merry-go-round! Where's the horse For a kid that's black? There's power and magic in Langston's work. He is definitely worthy of all the love and praise he gets.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-04 00:00:00 Bryan Roy This book first appeared in 1932. It is still a great read for all ages today. Langston Hughes made a huge impact on my life because he was anthologized often in my literature books. Here is a famous one: "Dreams" Hold onto dreams For if dreams die Life is like a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. There is often a simple beauty: "Poem" I loved my friend. He went away from me. There's nothing more to say. The poem ends, Soft as it began-- I loved my friend. He had one section about the sea: "Sailor" He sat upon the rolling deck Half a world away from home, And smoked a Capstan cigarette And watched the blue waves tipped with foam. He had a mermaid on his arm, An anchor on his breast, And tattooed on his back he had A blue bird in a nest. He shows a social conscious and evidence of travel: "Parisian Beggar Woman" Once you were young. Now, hunched in the cold, Nobody cares That you are old. Once you were beautiful. Now, in the street, No one remembers Your lips were sweet. Oh, withered old woman Of rue Fontaine, Nobody but death Will kiss you again. He has some great blues poems: "Po' Boy Blues" When I was home de Sunshine seemed like gold. When I was home de Sunshine seemed like gold. Since I come up North de Whole damn world's turned cold. I was a good boy, Never done no wrong. Yes, I was a good boy, Never done no wrong, But this world is weary An' de road is hard an' long. I fell in love with A gal I thought was kind. Fell in love with A gal I thought was kind. She made me lose ma money An' almost lose ma mind. Weary, weary, Weary early in de morn. Weary, weary, Early, early in de morn. I's so weary I wish I'd never been born. And another one: "Wide River" Ma baby lives across de river An' I ain't got no boat. She lives across de river. I ain't got no boat. I ain't a good swimmer An' I don't know how to float. Wide, wide river 'Twixt ma love an' me. Wide, wide river 'Twixt ma love an' me. I never knowed how Wide a river can be. Got to cross that river An' git to ma baby somehow. Cross that river, Git to ma baby somehow' Cause if I don't see ma baby I'll lay down an' die right now. And one that later became the title of a book by a man who dyed his skin black to find out what it would be like to be black in America, Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin: "Dream Variations" To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree While night comes on gently, Dark like me- That is my dream! To fling my arms wide In the face of the sun, Dance! Whirl! Whirl! Till the quick day is done. Rest at pale evening... A tall, slim tree... Night coming tenderly Black like me. And the poem that impacted me in high school: "I, Too" I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed' I, too, am America. Here's the advice of a mother to a son: "Mother to Son" Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor' Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So, boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now' For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. And the Jim Crow paradox: "Merry-Go-Round" Where is the Jim Crow section On this merry-go-round, Mister, cause I want to ride? Down South where I come from White and colored Can't sit side by side. Down South on the train There's a Jim Crow car. On the bus we're put in the back' But there ain't no back To a merry-go-round! Where's the horse For a kid that's black?