Symbolism

Running Head : The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes : Symbolism

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes : Symbolism

Langton Hughes was one of the most prominent poets of the Harlem Renaissance . His rhythm was influenced by jazz music and his words spoke the truth from the soul of the African American in a country where freedom and equality should be for all people . Hughes was also a master in using the literary element of symbolism and it is especially evident in the poem The Negro

Speaks of Rivers

The river itself is a symbol in the poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers Water represents life because without water , life could not exist so the river is the life of not only the Speaker of the poem , all African Americans . The speaker talks of knowing rivers , but he has also known the lives of other people of his race . Rivers constantly move and that is symbolic of man . Africa is most likely civilization began , therefore man has traveled the earth like a river to take civilization to all for corners of the earth

The Negro Speaks of Rivers " explores the journey of African Americans through history . Though Hughes wrote the poem in the first person (using the pronoun "I , the poem narrates the rich history of all Africans from pre-literate times through the building of the pyramids . Like many other artists and of his day , Hughes studded the work with Egyptian symbolism and other references to African heritage (Drop Me Off in Harlem

The journey of the African slave from his /her homeland is symbolized through the constant moving of the river . Many times slaves were sold and there was nothing stable about their lives which can be represented by the movement of the river

Humans have blood vessels that allow the blood to travel to all the parts of the body . If it were not for these blood vessels humans would die . Blood rich in oxygen is transported to every part of the body through arteries and the blood that has waste is then taken by veins to the kidneys for filtering . The river symbolizes these important vessels that bring life to humans . They too are used to transport things and people to larger water ways . The Euphrates , Nile and Mississippi Rivers , were all important water ways for the slave trade which was a travesty for the African American Race

It is through the rivers that Hughes traces the African Americans history . The first rivers that are rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins (Hughes ) The ancient rivers are symbolic of the four rivers mentioned in Genesis Pison , Gihon , Hideckel , and Euphrates that surround the Garden of Eden The world started with the black race and moved forward from there . The Euphrates River Symbolizes the early Bible times when the Assyrian and African area of the world were the rulers of the world...