200 Poetry for Students

so ancient as to appear timeless, predating human

existence, longer than human memory.” Jemie con-

tinues by noting that as the black man drank of these

essences, he became endowed with the strength, the

power and the wisdom of the river spirit. Thus

Hughes stresses the ancient cultural heritage of the

African-American, the soul which existed even be-

fore the “dawns were young.” The poem then makes

clear that through all of the centuries, the speaker—

or in other words, the collective soul—has survived

indomitable, like the rivers. The poem exalts the

force of character, the wisdom and strength, which

created this survival.

This tribute developed out of Hughes’ personal

life. He describes the inspiration for the poem in

his autobiography, The Big Sea. While he was

crossing the Mississippi on a visit to his father, a

man who baffled and frustrated Hughes because of

his prejudice, he began “thinking about my father

and his strange dislike of his own people.” Hughes

contrasts this attitude with his own admiration for

the “bravest people possible—the Negroes from the

Southern ghettoes—facing tremendous odds.” The

Mississippi suddenly seemed to be a graphic sym-

bol of that bravery. He notes that being sold down

the river literally meant being torn violently from

one’s own family. Yet even after centuries of bru-

tal inhumanity in bondage, the African-American

spirit has emerged triumphant. This poem became

Hughes’ tribute to the strength and the wisdom of

his people.

Rivers

Rivers have been a powerful force throughout

human history. Many early mythologies made the

river—or the river god—a symbol of both life and

death. It is easy to understand the reason for this

since most of the great early civilizations grew up

in river valleys. The Euphrates, which is the first

of the rivers mentioned in the poem, helps to form

Mesopotamia. Even today, world history textbooks

refer to the area using the symbolic phrase, the cra-

dle of civilization, because of the number of an-

cient kingdoms which flourished there: Ur, Sumer,

Babylon. The Nile, too, played a central role in

early civilization. It ensured Egyptian prosperity.

Thus the river was worshipped as the god, Khnum,

who made the earth fruitful. Central African tribes

also believed in the powerful river spirits who were

sources of life, wisdom, and purification. Even, to-

day, Christian baptism, which originated when

John the Baptist anointed Jesus Christ in the River

Jordan, represents both a symbol of purification and

the entrance to new life.

S. Okechukwu Mezu discusses the importance

of rivers in both mythology and poetry in his study

The Poetry of Leopold Sedar Senghor:“The river

in most societies is considered a source of life, of

new life in particular: a source of ablution and pu-

rification.” He then mentions several poets who ab-

sorb this view into their work, such as Hughes and

Whitman, whose “personification of the river ... is

not far removed from the anthropomorphism and

pantheism that characterize certain elements in

African traditional religion.”

Style.

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is spoken in first

person point of view. However, the “I” represents

neither a persona nor the author. Rather, the “I”

speaks as and for people of African descent. “The

Negro” of the title represents an archetype rather

than an actual individual. There is a precedent for

this collective “I” in the poetry of Walt Whitman,

who spoke as and for America in his poem, “Song

of Myself.” Hughes adopts two other elements in

this poem that show the influence of Whitman: long

lines and repetition of phrases. The long, free verse

lines of this poem signal the speaker’s attempt to

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Topics for

Further

Study

• Rivers were vital to early civilizations, yet to-
  day many suffer from a variety of types of pol-
  lution. Choose one of the rivers mentioned in
  the poem and report on its current condition.


• Research the importance of the Harlem Renais-
  sance in giving voice to the soul of the African-
  American community.


• Investigate Abraham Lincoln’s role in abolish-
  ing slavery.


• Hughes connects the African-American soul
  with rivers. Write an extended metaphor con-
  necting your spirit to some aspect of nature.