Influences

What influenced his writing?

 Hughes was influenced by American poets Paul Laurence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman. Langston first read Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman in high school and they inspired his interest in poetry. You can see that Langston was influenced by Whitman because they both hint at homosexuality in their poems. Langston was also influenced by his surroundings in New York. 

​

(Picture is of Walt Whitman)