208 Poetry for Students
Source:Dean Rader, in an essay for Poetry for Students,
Gale, 2001.Sarah Madsen Hardy
Sarah Madsen Hardy has a doctorate in Eng-
lish literature and is a freelance writer and editor.
In the following essay, she compares Hughes’ “The
Negro Speaks of Rivers” to “Heritage,” a poem by
Hughes’ Harlem Renaissance contemporary Coun-
tee Cullen.Poets often use their poems to speak to each
other across centuries and continents—and some-
times, just across town. Hughes and Countee Cullen
were part of the same literary generation. Born
within a year of each other, both poets found their
way to Harlem, which was, in the 1920s, beginning
to rise to fame as the vital and fashionable center
of African-American art and culture. Both men are
remembered as representatives of one of the most
important American literary and arts movements,
the Harlem Renaissance, which reached its height
in the 1930s. However, these two black poets had
very different views of race and art. While both pro-
moted racial equality and progress for blacks
through their art, Cullen drew on the largely British
tradition of his formal schooling when he wrote.
Hughes was also well educated, but he drew inspi-
ration for his poetry largely from folk forms, in-cluding, most notably, the African-American musi-
cal tradition of the blues. In this essay, I will com-
pare two of their poems as part of a literary dia-
logue between the poets about the significance of
Africa to African Americans—Hughes’ first publi-
cation, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and one of
Cullen’s best known poems, “Heritage.” The poems
take up a remarkably similar theme, but their inter-
esting differences in form and philosophy highlight
the complexity of the question both poets pose: in
Cullen’s famous words, “What is Africa to me?”
In their poems, Hughes and Cullen take up the
issue of the place of Africa in the mind and soul of
the African-American poet. This was an important
question during the Harlem Renaissance because,
up until this point in American history, the only
African Americans who were given any credit for
serious artistic talent were those—like Phyllis
Wheatley—who were adept at making use of white,
European forms, despite their limited access and
experiential connection to this tradition. The
Harlem Renaissance actually began as an artistic
movement of whiteartists who provocatively drew
inspiration from supposedly primitive African and
African-American art forms. Later in the move-
ment, blacks began to claim these sources for their
own artistic expression and use them toward more
political ends. But in the early-and mid-1920s,
when these poems were written, the status of black
artists drawing on Africa for inspiration was still
quite tentative. The poems present conflicting vi-
sions of Africa as a part of the African-American
self and as a source of inspiration for the black poet.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” uses the central
metaphor of the river to speak of a black history
that flows fluidly from Africa to America. The
speaker does not reflect Hughes as an individual,
but rather his connection to a mythic and collec-
tive black soul. What makes such a collectivity pos-
sible is the powerful force of sharedhistory. “Her-
itage” also addresses the relationship between
Africa and America within the African-American
self, but Cullen’s vision is far less peaceful and con-
tinuous. He speaks individually and personally of
a self divided, cut offfrom Africa by the forces of
history. Part of him denies the relevance of Africa
at all. The central force of the question in his re-
frain is rhetorical—“one three centuries removed”
from his original homeland, howcanAfrica mean
anything to him? But within Cullen’s poem lies a
different answer—for imaginings of Africa inhabit
him, almost haunting him. Africa exists as a
chaotic, passionate shadow force within his “civi-
lized” poet’s soul.The Negro Speaks of RiversPart of him denies
the relevance of Africa at
all. The central force of the
question in his refrain is
rhetorical—“one three
centuries removed” from his
original homeland, how can
Africa mean anything to
him? But within Cullen’s
poem lies a different
answer—for imaginings of
Africa inhabit him, almost
haunting him.”