“I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.” [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 2-3] So goes the opening lines of Langston Hughes’ seminal poem ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’, and even a studious scholar may be inclined to believe him on a textual level. From the very roots of his African heritage to the streets of Harlem and New York from the 20’s to the 60’s, few writers have eclipsed Hughes’ remarkable portraits of black culture. Each of his poems is able to convey the extremely complex emotional landscape of minorities in his era. These writings are rightly regarded as essential works of African American literature; the voice of a generation that so desperately needed the sense of pride Hughes could give them. Despite their broader qualities, Hughes’ poems are extremely personal, and to understand each facet of his work, it is important to recognize some of the experiences of their author.
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Often considered his seminal work, ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ is an early example of Hughes’s mastery of prose. For a 17 year old boy, he wrote with surprising conviction when discussing being “bathed in the Euphrates when the dawns were young.” [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 5] The poem leads through thousands of years of African history in a few lines, right down to the United States slaves, where he “ heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans.” [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 8-9] Hughes is obviously not referring to literally walking the earth for thousands of years, but to his African heritage, “his soul,” as he refers to it in the poem’s final line. [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 13] This sense of dignity derived from his ancestry was something Hughes was raised with, and it would be key to his style when he would begin writing even
Often considered his seminal work, ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ is an early example of Hughes’s mastery of prose. For a 17 year old boy, he wrote with surprising conviction when discussing being “bathed in the Euphrates when the dawns were young.” [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 5] The poem leads through thousands of years of African history in a few lines, right down to the United States slaves, where he “ heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans.” [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 8-9] Hughes is obviously not referring to literally walking the earth for thousands of years, but to his African heritage, “his soul,” as he refers to it in the poem’s final line. [“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 13] This sense of dignity derived from his ancestry was something Hughes was raised with, and it would be key to his style when he would begin writing even