Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes poetry portrays with vivid imagery of his travels abroad and writes of his deep-seated thoughts and views on racism and inequality in America during the Harlem Renaissance. His poem titled “Negro Speaks of Rivers” that he wrote while he was in Mexico relates to his travels and his intense feelings inside of him. He uses a simile to show those feelings in this line from the poem “My soul has grown deep like …

…American dream that had to be put off because of the inequality of the African Americans in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century? Or could he be writing about a dream that only he had at one time in his mind? Ultimately the four poems noted above by Langston Hughes, captured his influences and ideas to show the average African American how he felt and the wish “to inspire them”( ).