210 Poetry for Students
peans. Cullen, in contrast, shows how this racist
view has divided his consciousness and hindered
his ability to draw power from his heritage. For
him, Africa is “a book one thumbs”—one written
by Europeans. The African heritage that Cullen
portrays so ambivalently in his poem is ahistorical,
while Hughes argues forcefully for the African-
American’s claim to a historical tradition—one that
is not dependent on the Westernized mediation of
book learning, but instead relies on a form of
knowledge intrinsic to the black soul.
Though they address remarkably similar ques-
tions and concerns, the two poems can be understood
as having different goals and, therefore, offering dif-
ferent visions. Hughes offers a representation of the
black soul as strong and unified, despite the injuries
done to it by the racism of the American context.
Though his poem speaks of the past, Hughes’s vi-
sion is focused on the future, when the devastation
of slavery can begin to seem small in relationship to
a long and proud historical tradition. “The Negro
Speaks of Rivers” can be understood as a utopian vi-
sion, one that is located in an ideal and mythic “no
place.” Cullen’s “Heritage,” in contrast, offers a vi-
sion of the human struggle of his present context. The
African-American soul that he portrays is not ideal,
but real. It is torn and pained by racism, though not
destroyed by it. Cullen is bent on using his art to
show the struggle, while Hughes creates a poem in
which the struggle has been overcome.
Source:Sarah Madsen Hardy, in an essay for Poetry for
Students,Gale, 2001.Sources
Baldwin, James, “Sermons and Blues,” inThe New York
Times Book Review,March 29, 1959, p. 6.
Hughes, Langston, The Big Sea,Knopf, 1940, reprinted Hill
and Wang, 1993.
Hughes, Langston, Milton Meltzer, and C. Eric Lincoln,
“First, We Were Africans,” in A Pictorial History of Black-
americans,Crown Publishers, Inc., 1983, p. 7.
Jemie, Onwuchekwa, Langston Hughes: An Introduction to
the Poetry,Columbia University Press, 1976.
Lacayo, Richard, “Blood at the Root,” in Time,April 10,
2000, pp. 122-123.
Locke, Alain, review of The Weary Blues,1927.Mezu, S. Okechukwe, The Poetry of Leopold Sedar Seng-
hor,Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1973.
Miller, R. Baxter, “Some Mark to Make”: The Lyrical Imag-
ination of Langston Hughes,Critical Essays on Langston
Hughes,edited by Edward J. Mullen, G. K. Hall &, Co.,
1986, p. 160.
Rampersad, Arnold, The Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too,
Sing America, Vol. I, 1902–1941,Oxford University Press,
1986, 468 p.
———, “The Origins of Poetry in Langston Hughes,” in
Langston Hughes,Edited by Harold Bloom, Chelsea House
Publishers, 1989, pp. 179-189.
Randall, Dudley, “The Black Aesthetic in the Thirties, For-
ties, and Fifties,” in Modern Black Poets,edited by Donald
B. Gibson, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1973, p. 35.
Robinson, Cedric J, Black Movements in America,Rout-
ledge, 1997.
Smith, Raymond, “Hughes: Evolution of the Poetic Per-
sona,” in Langston Hughes,edited by Harold Bloom,
Chelsea House Publishers, 1989, pp. 45-60.For Further Study
Berry, Faith, Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem,
Wings Books, 1996.
An insightful portrait which traces the development
of Hughes’ literary career.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., and K. A. Appiah,Langston
Hughes: Critical Perspectives Past and Present,Amistad,
1993.
The collection includes a wide range of essays dis-
cussing Hughes’ use of many different genres.
Hornsby, Alton, Jr., Milestones in 20th Century African-
American History,Visible Ink Press, 1993.
This work provides a brief yet clear picture of re-
cent African American history.
Miller, R. Baxter, The Art and Imagination of Langston
Hughes,University of Kentucky Press, 1986.
Miller provides a detailed analysis of Hughes’ po-
etry, discussing the theme of African heritage and its
use in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
Mullane, Deirdre, ed., Words to Make My Dream Children
Live: A Book of African American Quotations,Anchor
Books, Doubleday, 1995.
Quotes from Hank Aaron to Andrew Young are af-
firmations on achieving dreams.
Rampersad, Arnold, The Life of Langston Hughes,2 vols.,
Oxford University Press.
This very detailed biography discusses literary and
social influences on Hughes’ writing.The Negro Speaks of Rivers