What are the motifs in Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes?

Dreams is one motif that weaves itself through this entire volume. In fact, the concept of the dream, a dream or the act of dreaming appears no fewer than 17 times in this collection. In each piece, the characters and/or narrator talk about dreams in both literal and figurative terms. For instance, in the poem "As I Grew Older" the speaker reminisces about times past and the nature of the dream he had as a young man. Most importantly, however, the dream motif is most prevalent in the penultimate section entitled "Montage of a Dream Deferred."