Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (American Studies Department), course: American Modernism, language: English, abstract: How did Langston Hughes shape music into poetry, what were the items of his jazz poetry and what message did he want to mediate? Concerning the items and message of jazz poetry, secondary literature offers no help. Reading Hughes' jazz poems and combining it with the status of jazz music and Hughes' view of art, the following assumptions are plausible: Hughes' jazz poetry tries with literary devices to imitate jazz music. This poetry reflects to reflect modern, urban black poplar culture. His poems transmit a new black self- confidence. The aim of this paper is to give reasons for those assumptions by analyzing a jazz poem closely. The poem that is to be analyzed is called „Railroad Avenue" and was published first in 1926.