What is the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes about?
Answers
Answer:
Blackness, Perseverance, and Cultural Identity. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" stretches from the earliest moments of human civilization all the way to American slavery, emphasizing that black people have both witnessed and participated in the key moments of human history.
Theme:
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" stretches from the earliest moments of human civilization all the way to American slavery, emphasizing that black people have both witnessed and participated in the key moments of human history. In the face of centuries of slavery and oppression in America, the poem’s speaker asserts the perseverance of black cultural roots. The poem argues that people of African descent have not simply been present for all of human history, they have been a guiding force shaping civilization. In this sense, the poem is an ode to black perseverance.
The speaker of the poem acts as a representative figure. After all, the title is "The Negro Speaks of River," not "A Negro…" (At the time of the poem’s writing, "Negro" was a common term that wasn't considered offensive). In this sense, the speaker models how he or she thinks the black community as a whole should relate to its history and culture.
As an almost mythical figure, the speaker emphasizes the depth of his or her experience, which turns out to represent the entire history of black people. The speaker has "known rivers ancient as the world," and "bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young." The Euphrates is a river in the Middle East associated with an area called the Cradle of Civilization, where human agriculture first began. As such, the speaker is saying he or she was present at the very start of human history, implying that black people have helped shape the world as we know it. Invoking this deep history establishes the fact that black experience extends as far back as any other people's, creating a profound sense of community and connection between black people.
In fact, the speaker has "known rivers … older than the flow of human blood in human veins"—suggesting that black history existed even before human existence. This connects the speaker to the natural world. On one hand, such a connection could be considered problematic, since racist discourses often oppose "civilized" white populations to "natural" or "uncivilized" black peoples. (Because of these racist ideas, Hughes himself veered away from such characterizations in his later work.) On the other hand, this connection can be seen as asserting a sense of wisdom and peace (such as when the Congo "lull[s]" the speaker to sleep) in the face of slavery and oppression, which the poem alludes to later on.
In addition to the speaker's deep historical experience, he or she has also witnessed recent events, such as "the singing of the Mississippi"—a river on the American continent, thousands of miles away from the Euphrates—when "Abe Lincoln went to down to New Orleans." The line alludes to a famous trip Lincoln took down the Mississippi as a young man, which exposed him to the evils of slavery. The speaker invokes these examples to show the breadth of black experience—which includes moments of triumph, like building the pyramids, and moments of trial and tribulation, like slavery and the Civil War. In all these moments, black experience has helped define the course of history.
As the speaker outlines these distant, disparate experiences, he or she stresses that they are not disconnected events. They form one uninterrupted experience, like a river. Rivers represent continuity: they cannot be chopped up into discrete chunks. Furthermore, the speaker’s experience is “deep” like a river, suggesting permanence, perseverance, and inner strength. Black people have persevered through the most difficult times. Like a river, black history keeps flowing.
This argument holds special importance for the American black community for two related reasons. First, the slave trade cut off black people from their homes, their cultures, their families—and, ultimately, their history. Yet the speaker asserts a continuous history despite that cutting-off. Second, American narratives of history have usually focused on white people, effectively erasing black experience. So, in presenting the speaker’s knowledge as stretching across continents and historical periods, the poem portrays a different narrative—one that acknowledges black history.
The speaker argues that black identity and accomplishment are so powerful they can cross the gaps that slavery created, reconnecting with lost ancestors and traditions. In this way, the poem proudly portrays the depth of black historical experience.