Major+Works

Hughes published works in many genres but was primarily known as a poet. He published his first collection of poems //The Weary Blues// in 1926, containing one of his most famous poems "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." Other important volumes of poetry are //Fine Clothes for the// //Je////ws// (1927), //Montage of a Dream Deferred// (1951), //Selected Poems of Langston Hughes// (1959), and //Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz// (1961).

In his poetry Hughes renders the voices, experiences, emotions, and spirit of African Americans. In his attempt to capture the lives of everyday African Americans he deals with subjects like prostitution, racism, lynchings, and teenage pregnancy. Hughes is well known for the influence of jazz and bebop music in his poetry, both as a subject matter and as a structure.

Critics have noted his skill in imitating the sound, cadence, and rhythms of the blues style as well as capturing the humor, despair, and loneliness depicted in the music.

Hughes's most famous fiction involved a character named Jesse B. Semple, often called Simple. These short stories provided Hughes with another opportunity to showcase the problems facing African Americans. In Hughes's many plays he captures the vernacular of African Americans and is able to employ such innovative techniques as theatre-in-the-round and audience participation.