-Langston Hughes

The poet Langston Hughes was one of the major figures of both literary modernism and the Harlem Renaissance. He claimed that Whitman was “America's greatest poet” and that Leaves of Grass was “the greatest expression of the real meaning of democracy.” Hughes was equally attentive to the people and experiences that were excluded from Whitman’s vision as he was to those that were included. In one poem he wrote about “Old Walt Whitman” who “Went finding and seeking, / Finding less than sought / Seeking more than found.” As a gay man, Hughes was also drawn to Whitman for his poems on intimate affection between men, but as an African American he responded to Whitman’s claim to “hear America singing” by writing that “I, too, sing America. / I am the darker brother.”