JAZZ POETRY OF LANGSTON HUGHES: THE VOICING OF BLACK AMERICA

Abstract

Sascha Feinstein described jazz poetry as, “… any poetry that has been informed by jazz music” (2) while Miriam Zolin in her essay “The Quickening Art of Jazz Poetry” described it as, “A poetry that doesn’t exactly mimic the sounds of jazz, but does incorporate rhythms, repetitions, syncopation and space so that its performance can evoke what jazz evokes” (2). A lot of definitions have stemmed from many critics, scholars, musicians and poets but from all these definitions, it is clear that jazz poetry should ideally contain the following: it should be inspired by the music jazz; it should have the same effect that jazz music has on its audience and the vocal performance should be interwoven to the music.