Chapter 23, I Used to Wonder Summary

Music was always a great influence on Hughes. Early in his career, many of Hughes' poems mimicked the rhythms of jazz; later he took on the beat of blues. People and the city were also important aspects of Langston's poetry, and Langston once said, "I like wild people much better than I do wild animals." He was a people's poet, who preferred to keep his feet and his heart on the streets.

His work has always included hearty portions of 'soul,' which Hughes learned to weave into whatever medium he was working with, whether it be poetry, prose, screenwriting, or playwriting. Hughes said when asked about soul, "(it is) a sort of synthesis of the essence of the Negro folk arts, particularly the old music and its flavor, expressed in contemporary ways but so...