Langston Hughes the Negro Speaks of Rivers

1.What work or works are you writing on, and why did you choose to write on work or these works? Langston Hughes "the Negro Speaks of Rivers" 2. What critical question were you exploring in this essay? Did you find this question difficult to answer? What did this work mean and it was fairly easy to find. 3. How did your understanding of the work(s) about which you are writing change as you wrote this essay? If it did not change, why do you think that was? It didn't I knew what he was talking about from the beginning. 4. What did you find the hardest about your writing process for this essay? none 5. What do you see as the essay's strengths and why? Finding the inner meaning of the poem. 6. What do you see as the essay's weaknesses and why? None 7. What specific feedback would you like from your instructor? Helpful feedback on how to make this a better essay.

In Langston Hughes poem " The Negro Speaks of Rivers" gives an indepth look in the journey of African Americans to America. Hughes cleverly uses the water of the river as the origin of life. The "Negro Speaks of Rivers" follows the pilgrimage of African American life from the rivers of Africa to the Mississippi river which was a way to get slaves into the country. Langston subtly shows his hatred for slavery and racism back then by saying "My soul has grown deep like the rivers". As you read this verse for the first time you may assert that he has traveled and learned about rivers of the world. The next line states "ancient as the world and older than the flow of/ human blood in human veins." This verse has a deeper meaning and seems to have Langston Hughes identify his black skin with the first human known to earth. The line " I have known these rivers" is stated again only after he mentions Mississippi, New orleans, and Abraham Lincoln. He cleverly puts the line " My soul has grown deep like the rivers" towards the end of the poem which leads one to assume that he is no longer the