Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks Of Rivers

Langston Hughes was an American poet, born in 1902 and died in 1967, mostly know for his jazz poetry.

Hughes “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” has man different view of reading it. Really the allegory of this poem details black history and experience. Every time I is mentioned it really means blacks people instead of himself and the rivers in this poem represent life. The rivers all over the world, starting in Africa, the mother land where everything began. “Rivers as ancient as the world” Europhates the river flowing near the first civilization, Congo the second biggest river with jagged edges, and Nile the longest and most dangerous river in Africa. According to Library Media Connection, “Hughes captured the essence of his race and their
Imagery is very vivid with the deep and long rivers that flow. The muddy river turns golden just by the sun, and ancient dusky river that will soon get brighter.

This poem has a neutral diction of words but doesn’t rhyme at all. Even though it doesn’t rhyme it has a big overall impact. This early Harlem renascence poetry, an example of jazz poetry, shows that jazz poetry doesn’t have to rhyme but meant to express important history.

Hughes the renascence King of Techniques used many Figures of speech such as Metaphors. “I” was black life to a river, Smile are used in the poem such as” As ancients the world” and “Like the river” which shows the authors connection between two things. The allusion of Negro is used in this poem because the title states of “Negro” but the poem never include the word but the history of Negros as rivers.

This poem has a unique form with 12 lines. An average line structure of poem is 20 lines, but some are shorter than others. What really stands out is “My soul grows deeper than river” which this phrases has two lines where it stands alone and this puts big empathies on this one phrase. From the first time this phrase is shown to the last, this has history in-between, which shows how souls have grown through racism and
Reading this for the first time it seems like a wise old man is talking to his grandchildren but this poem was really written by a young 18-year-old Hughes writing with a wise train of thought.

In Langston Hughes poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” he uses “I” repetitively and in almost ever line. He also uses that in he’s other work “I, Too”. But I in both pieces of poetry never real mean himself. “I” is a collective noun for black people as a whole. Hughes also used geographical locations in black history in his poems. “Negro” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, detail fine imagery such as Africa, Pyramids, slavery and Mississippi.
In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "Negro" Langston Hughes uses connection between US and other foreign countries as a means of exploring history, heritage, and identity (Jones 74).
This poem indicated many things such as Normal human behavior “bathing, building a hut and sleep” but that is soon interrupted by slavery. “ I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. ‘ which the first sign of slavery, by the Egyptians. Then Mississippi Muddy River of slavery in the United states and is t soon cleared by sun, the civil war and turns golden the sunset of the idea