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Overview
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is an important early poem by Langston Hughes, one of the key figures in the Harlem Renaissance
. Written when Hughes was just 17, this short poem marked the beginning of his long and influential career. It is believed that he jotted the poem down in just a few minutes while on a train that was crossing the Mississippi River. This crossing gave him the idea to compose a work that uses the central symbol of rivers to meditate on the continuity of Black cultural identity across time and space. Despite its seeming simplicity, critics continue to hail “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” as a profound poem that stands among the great works of Black American literature.Read the free full text, a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
