Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks Of Rivers

In the poem “The Negro Speaks Of Rivers”, Langston Hughes, an African American author during the Harlem Renaissance, portrayed the cultural history of African Americans over thousands of years. Hughes’s usage of symbols, imagery and format gives the poem a deeper meaning and employs the reader’s emotion. The speaker in the poem is an advocate for the entire African American community throughout history. The literary devices used in this poem are valuable in relaying the message and engaging the thoughts of the reader. Throughout the poem the reader goes on a journey through time of the history and culture of African Americans. The Euphrates River, the Congo River Basin, the Nile River and the Mississippi River are all allusions within the

The usage of “flow” is important because the word is often used to describe a river and gives the poem the feel of a river. The author personifies the river in a way that gives it motherly and female characteristics. In the line, “I built my hut near the Congo (river) and it lulled me to sleep” (6), the river is singing a lullaby, lulling the speaker asleep like a mother would do to her baby. The Mississippi river is also being personified in the line, “…and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. (10)”, the word “bosom” gives the river a feminine characteristic. The objective of personifying the river in a way that is motherly helps the audience understand the goodness of the river in the lives of the African American people during the hard times. In the same line, “…and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset...” (10), the word “muddy” is a metaphor for the messing lives of the African American community, especially the conflict of slavery. The speaker then goes on to say the muddy river transforms into “golden in the sunset”, which is a metaphor for the ending of slavery. At the end of the day there is a sunset, and after a long road of hardships and slavery for the African American community there is a golden ending. Although the slavery ended, that does not mean all the terror over the years has been erased, “I’ve