THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS

By Langston Hughes
I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when be !incoln went down to New "rleans# and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: ncient# dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. $%&&

On "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

rnold 'ampersad
(he sun was setting as the train reached )t. !ouis and began the long passage from Illinois across the Mississippi and into Missouri# where *ughes had been born. (he beauty of the hour and the setting++the great muddy river glinting in the sun# the banked and tinted summer clouds# the rush

of the train toward the dark# all touched an adolescent sensibility tender after the gloomy day. (he sense of beauty and death# of hope and despair# fused in his imagination. phrase came to him# then a sentence. ,rawing an envelope from his pocket# he began to scribble. In a few minutes !angston had finished a poem. ... -ith its allusions to deep dusky rivers# the setting sun# sleep# and the soul# .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. is suffused with the image of death and# simultaneously# the idea of deathlessness. s in -hitman's philosophy# only the knowledge of death can bring the primal spark of poetry and life. *ere !angston *ughes became .the outsetting bard#. in -hitman's phrase# the poet who sings of life because at last he has known death. /alanced between the knowledge of love and of death# the poetic will gathers force. 0rom the depths of grief the poet sweeps back to life by clinging to his greatest faith# which is in his people and his sense of kinship with them. *is frail# intimidated self# as well as the image of his father# are li1uidated. man+child is born# soft+ spoken# almost casual# yet noble and proud# and black as frica. (he muddy river is his race# the primal source out of which he is born anew2 on that .muddy bosom. of the race as black mother# or grandmother# he rests secure forever. (he angle of the sun on the muddy water is like the angle of a poet's vision# which turns mud into gold. (he diction of the poem is simple and unaffected either by dialect or rhetorical e3cess2 its elo1uence is like that of the best of the black spirituals. 0rom rnold 'ampersad# The Life of Langston Hughes# 4ol. $. "3ford 5niversity 6ress# $%77. Copyright 8 by rnold 'ampersad.

"nwuchekwa 9emie
.(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. is perhaps the most profound of these poems of heritage and strength. Composed when *ughes was a mere $: years old# and dedicated to -. E. /. ,u/ois# it is a sonorous evocation of transcendent essences so ancient as to appear timeless# predating human e3istence# longer than human memory. (he rivers are part of ;od's body# and participate in his immortality. (hey are the earthly analogues of eternity: deep# continuous# mysterious. (hey are named in the order of their association with black history. (he black man has drunk of their life+giving essences# and thereby borrowed their immortality. *e and the rivers have become one. (he magical transformation of the Mississippi from mud to gold by the sun's radiance is mirrored in the transformation of slaves into free men by !incoln's 6roclamation <and# in *ughes's poems# the transformation of shabby cabarets into gorgeous palaces# dancing girls into 1ueens and priestesses by the spell of black music=. s the rivers deepen with time# so does the black man's soul2 as their waters ceaselessly flow# so will the black soul endure. (he black man has seen the rise and fall of civili>ations from the earliest times# seen the beauty and death+changes of the world over the thousands of years# and will survive even this merica. (he poem's meaning is related to ?ora Neale *urston's @udgment of the mythic *igh 9ohn de Con1uer# whom she held as a symbol of the triumphant spirit of black merica: that 9ohn was of the ./e. class. "Be here when the ruthless man comes# and be here when he is gone.. In a time and place where black life is held cheap and the days of black men appear to be numbered# the

poem is a ma@estic reminder of the strength and fullness of history# of the source of that life which transcends even ceaseless labor and burning crosses. 0rom Langston Hughes: An Introduction to The Poetry. Copyright 8 $%:A by Columbia 5niversity 6ress.

9ean -agner
*ughes's first poem# published in The Crisis in 9une# $%&$# attracted the attention it did precisely because its author revealed the acute sensitivity to the racial past that ;arvey# with his racial romanticism# was then trying to instill in the minds of all. .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. heralded the e3istence of a mystic union of Negroes in every country and every age. It pushed their history back to the creation of the world# and credited them with possessing a wisdom no less profound than that of the greatest rivers of civili>ation that humanity had ever known# from the Euphrates to the Nile and from the Congo to the Mississippi. . . . Bet unlike Countee Cullen# and perhaps because he was the only poet of the Negro 'enaissance who had a direct# rather disappointing contact with frica# *ughes rarely indulges in a gratuitous ideali>ation of the land of his ancestors. If# in spite of everything# the e3altation of frican atavism has a significant place in his poetry up to $%C$# the reason is merely that he had not yet discovered a less romantic manner that would e3press his discomfort at not being treated in his own country as a citi>en on a par with any other. If he celebrates frica as his mother# it is not only because all the black peoples originated there but also because merica# which should be his real mother# had always behaved toward him in stepmotherly fashion. 0rom Black Poets of the United States. Copyright 8 $%:C by the /oard of (rustees of the 5niversity of Illinois.

;eorge *utchinson
*ughes had come to -hitman by way of such Midwestern rebels as Carl )andburg prior to the twenties. *is was the democratic .transnational#. socialist# .comradely. -hitman pushed by *orace (raubel and the asses circle <as opposed to the -hitman of .cosmic consciousness. (oomer responded to=. Nonetheless# he early sensed the affinity between the inclusive .I. of -hitman and the .I. of the spirituals# whose fusion shaped one of his first published poems# .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. . . . . 'eaders rarely notice that if the soul of the Negro in this poem goes back to the Euphrates# it goes back to a pre+.racial. dawn and a geography far from frica that is identified with neither blackness nor whiteness++a geography at the time of *ughes's writing considered the cradle of all the world's civili>ations and possibly the location of the ;arden of Eden. (hus# even in this poem about the depth of the Negro's soul *ughes avoids racial essentialism while nonetheless stressing the e3istential# raciali>ed conditions of black and modern identity.

0rom The Harle! "enaissance in Black and #hite. Copyright 8 $%%D by the 6resident and /oard of 0ellows of *arvard College.

9oyce . 9oyce
*ughes captures the frican merican's historical @ourney to merica in what is perhaps his signature poem# .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers.. ,edicated to - E. /. ,u /ois and using water or the river as a metaphor for the source of life# the poem traces the movement of black life from the Euphrates and Nile rivers in frica to the Mississippi. *ughes subtly couches his admonishment of slavery and racism in the refrain .My soul has grown deep like the rivers.. (he first time the line appears in the poem it follows the poet's assertion that he has known rivers .ancient as the world and older than the flow of E human blood in human veins.. (he poet here identifies himself and his blackness with the first human beings. (he second and only other time the line appears in the poem occurs after the poet has made reference to Mississippi# New "rleans# and be !incoln. *e places the lines .My soul has grown deep like the rivers. at the end of the poem# this time suggesting that he is no longer the same man who .bathed in the Euphrates. and .built FhisG hut near the Congo.. *e is now a black man who has e3perienced the pain of slavery and racism# and his soul now bears the imprint of these e3periences. 0rom .Bantu$ %kodi$ %dungu$ and %ganga: !anguage# 6olitics# Music# and 'eligion in frican merican 6oetry.. In The &urious &lo'ering of African A!erican Poetry. Ed. 9oanne 4. ;abbins. Copyright 8 $%%% by the 'ectors and 4isitors of the 5niversity of 4irginia.

drian "ktenberg
(he identification of *ughes as a folk poet obscures the fact that he is a brilliant poet of ideas# and radical ideas at that. (he concepts of negritude and soul# the politics of /lack 6ower# the psychology of black rage# are so familiar to children of the si3ties that it comes almost as a shock to reali>e that *ughes was presenting articulate and concrete images of them in his poetry in the twenties and thirties. -hile these ideas did not originate with him# he embodied them in verse of such fluency and power that it seems undated half a century later. Moreover# he consistently combined them with the basic premises of revolutionary socialism# and this sympathy is evident++hard to miss++in his work not only of the thirties but to the end of his life. .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers#. then# is only the beginning of a long chain of poems by *ughes which confront# distill# e3tend# and transform the historical e3perience of black people into an art both limpid and programmatic. s in all of *ughes' hallmark poems# its distillation is as e3treme as any in Issa's haiku. (he .I. of the poem is not that of .a. Negro but .the. Negro# suggesting the whole of the people and their history. Most of the consonants++d's# n's# l's# s'sHare soft# and of the vowels# long o's reoccur# contributing by sound the effect of an ancient voice. (he tone of the repeated declarative sentences is muted# lulling. Every element of the poem combines to suggest that when the Negro speaks of rivers it is with the accumulated wisdom of a sage. (he function of a sage is to impart the sometimes secret but long accumulated history of a people to

its younger members so that they might make the lessons of the past active in the future. (his impartation occurs in the central stan>a of the poem: I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when be !incoln went down to New "rleans# and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. Moving by suggestion# by naming particular rivers and particular activities performed nearby# the poem implicates the whole history of frican and merican slavery without ever articulating the word. .I bathed in the Euphrates. and .I built my hut near the Congo. are the normal activities of natural man performed in his natural habitat. (hat may be an unnecessarily anthropological way of putting it# but the lines are the e1uivalent of the speaker having said# .I made my life undisturbed in the place where I lived.. (he shift++and the lesson++occurs in the ne3t two lines. 'aising the pyramids above the Nile was the act of slaves# and if ever . be !incoln went down to New "rleans#. it would have been in the conte3t of merican slavery and the Civil -ar. Implicit in the history of a people who had first been free and then enslaved is the vision of freedom regained# and therein lies the program. (he final line of the poem# .My soul has grown deep like the rivers#. suggests wisdom in the word .deep.. (he wisdom imparted by the poem# beyond the memory of the suffering of slavery# includes a more deeply embedded memory of freedom. (his is perhaps the more powerful memory# or the more sustaining one# and even if deferred# will reemerge in one form or another. 0rom .0rom the /ottom 5p: (hree 'adicals of the (hirties.. In A (ift of Tongues: Critical Challenges in Conte!)orary A!erican Poetry. Ed. Marie *arris and Iathleen guero. Copyright 8 $%7: by (he 5niversity of ;eorgia 6ress.

'. /a3ter Miller

(he double identification with penetrative time and receptive timelessness appears perhaps most notably in .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. <Crisis# 9une $%&$=# a poem dedicated to the late -. E. /. ,u /ois. .'ivers. presents the narrator's skill in retracing known civili>ation back to the source in East frica. -ithin thirteen lines and five stan>as# through the suggestion of wisdom by anagoge# we re+pro@ect ourselves into aboriginal consciousness. (hen the speaker affinns the spirit distilled from human history# ranging from CJJJ /.C. through the mid+nineteenth century to the author himself at the brink of the *arlem 'enaissance. (he powerful repetend .I've known rivers. E ncient# dusky rivers. closes the human narrative in nearly a circle# for the verse has turned itself subtly from an e3ternal focus to a unified and internal one: .My soul has grown deep like the rivers.. E3cept for the physical and spiritual dimensions# the sub@ective .I. and the .river. read the same. -hen the Euphrates flows from eastern (urkey southeast and southwest into the (igris# it recalls the rise as well as the fall of the 'oman Empire. 0or over two thousand years the water helped

delimit that domain. !ess so did the Congo# which south of the )ahara demarcates the natural boundaries between white and /lack frica. (he latter empties into the tlantic ocean2 the Nile flows northward from 5ganda into the Mediterranean2 in the 5nited )tates the Mississippi 'iver flows southeast from north central Minnesota to the ;ulf of Me3ico. -hether north or south# east or west# .'iver. signifies the fertility as well as the dissemination of life in concentric half+ circles. (he li1uid# as the e3ternali>ed form of the contemplative imagination# has both depth and flow. .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. reclaims the origins in frica of both physical and spiritual humanity. 0rom The Art and Language of Langston Hughes. Copyright 8 $%7% by (he 5niversity 6ress of Ientucky.

'achel /lau ,uplessis

(he Congo# called by !indsay the .Mistrel 'iver#. and astir with cannibals and witch+doctors# is reinterpreted as a pastoral# nourishing# maternal setting in *ughes: .I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.. .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. was composed in $%&J on the train to Me3ico when *ughes was still in his teens <eighteen to be e3act=# and published a year later in Crisis. (his poem was written as an internal dialogue with his father whose .strange dislike of his own people. baffled and disturbed *ughes# and# of course# implicated his son as ob@ect of that dislike <*ughes $%KJ# DK+DA2 'ampersand $%7A# C:+KJ=. In this poem# *ughes @oins affirmative blackness to a universal human 1uest# by putting into a global conte3t the racial stresses and demands of the 5nited )tates. (he poem <as is well known= lists four key rivers# all .ancient as the world <*ughes $%&A# D$2 dedicated in #eary Blues to -. E. /. ,u /ois=. (hree of the four flow through regions of colored peoples2 they are .rivers in our past.Hthe word .our. is marked <*ughes $%KJ# DD=. (he fourth is a river still reverberating with the past hundred years of merican history2 it is the river on which# *ughes says# !incoln .had seen slavery at its worst# and had decided within himself that it should be removed from merican life <ibid.=. -ith an .I. strongly indebted to -hitman as mediated by )andburg# and with a diction drawn from spirituals# *ughes describes the the Mississippi down which he was traveling as he wrote the poem# as having a strong raciali>ed meaning both by its often brown appearance <.ILve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.=# by the possibility of a cross+race mi3ing or single+race affirmation of different colors <.muddy. turns more .golden. ++ a word appearing in .(he Congo. as well=# and by its historical meaning under slavery. (hus *ughes @ourney doubles !incolnLs# and the concern with slavery# in the conte3t of *ughes relationship with his father discloses a crisis of autonomy on a personal level# and a political re@ection of a black man identifying with whites# for a white man <!incoln= identifying with blacks. In contrast to the voyeuristic fantasies of .(he Congo#. this poem is a statement about vocation# an emancipation into blackness: .My soul has grown deep like the rivers. <*ughes $%&A# D$=.

0rom (enders$ "aces$ and "eligious Cultures in Cambridge 5niversity 6ress.

odern A!erican Poetry$ *+,-.*+/0. &JJ$

'eturn to !angston *ughes http:EEwww.english.uiuc.eduEmapsEpoetsEgMlE*ughesErivers.htm

Notes on Poetry:

The Negro Speaks of Rivers (Themes)

Themes

*eritage N(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers#O *ughesL first published poem# introduces a theme which would recur in several other works throughout his career. Many critics have classified this group as the NheritageO poems. ma>ingly# although it was composed very 1uickly when he was only seventeen# it is both polished and powerful. In fact# in Langston Hughes: An Introduction to the Poetry# "nwuchekwa 9emie labels it the most profound of this group. (he poem utili>es four of the worldLs largest and most historically prominent rivers as a metaphor to present a view# almost a timeline in miniature# of the frican+ merican e3perience throughout history. (he opening lines of the poem introduce the ancient and powerful cultural history of frica and -est sia# with the mention of the Euphrates and the dawn of time. Ne3t the Congo# mother to Central frica# lulls the speaker# to sleep. (he worldLs longest river# the powerful and comple3 Nile with its great pyramids# follows. !ast# the poem moves to more recent times# with the introduction of the Mississippi. Even though the Mississippi and Congo both hold bitter connotations of the slave trade# each of the four has contributed to the depth of the speakerLs soul. (he poem stresses triumph over adversity as the Nmuddy bosomO of the Mississippi turns golden. (he speaker clearly represents more than !angston *ughes# the individual. In fact# the NIO of the poem becomes even more than the embodiment of a racial identity. (he poem describes# underlying that identity# an eternal spirit# e3isting before the dawn of time and present still in the twentieth century. (he different sections of the poem emphasi>e this: the speaker actually functions on two levels. "ne is the human level. (he first words of lines five through eight create a picture of the speakerLs ancestors: bathing# building# looking# hearing. *owever# the poem also discusses a spiritual level where the soul of the speaker has been and continues to be enriched by the spirit of the river# even before the creation of humanity. (hus# the second and third lines of the poem develop an eternal# or cosmic# dimension in the poem.

-isdom and )trength (he poemLs cosmic dimension adds an additional theme making the poem more than a tribute to the heritage of the past. It honors the wisdom and strength which allowed frican+ mericans to survive and flourish in the face of all adversity# most particularly the last few centuries of slavery. *ughes associates this strength with the spirit of these rivers which 9emie describes in Langston Hughes: An Introduction to the Poetry as Ntranscendent essences so ancient as to appear timeless# predating human e3istence# longer than human memory.O 9emie continues by noting that as the black man drank of these essences# he became endowed with the strength# the power and the wisdom of the river spirit. (hus *ughes stresses the ancient cultural heritage of the frican+ merican# the soul which e3isted even before the Ndawns were young.O (he poem then makes clear that through all of the centuries# the speaker H or in other words# the collective soul H has survived indomitable# like the rivers. (he poem e3alts the force of character# the wisdom and strength# which created this survival. (his tribute developed out of *ughesL personal life. *e describes the inspiration for the poem in his autobiography# The Big Sea. -hile he was crossing the Mississippi on a visit to his father# a man who baffled and frustrated *ughes because of his pre@udice# he began Nthinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people.O *ughes contrasts this attitude with his own admiration for the Nbravest people possible H the Negroes from the )outhern ghettoes H facing tremendous odds.O (he Mississippi suddenly seemed to be a graphic symbol of that bravery. *e notes that being sold down the river literally meant being torn violently from oneLs own family. Bet even after centuries of brutal inhumanity in bondage# the frican+ merican spirit has emerged triumphant. (his poem became *ughesL tribute to the strength and the wisdom of his people. 'ivers 'ivers have been a powerful force throughout human history. Many early mythologies made the river H or the river god H a symbol of both life and death. It is easy to understand the reason for this since most of the great early civili>ations grew up in river valleys. (he Euphrates# which is the first of the rivers mentioned in the poem# helps to form Mesopotamia. Even today# world history te3tbooks refer to the area using the symbolic phrase# the cradle of civili>ation# because of the number of ancient kingdoms which flourished there: 5r# )umer# /abylon. (he Nile# too# played a central role in early civili>ation. It ensured Egyptian prosperity. (hus the river was worshipped as the god# Ihnum# who made the earth fruitful. Central frican tribes also believed in the powerful river spirits who were sources of life# wisdom# and purification. Even# today# Christian baptism# which originated when 9ohn the /aptist anointed 9esus Christ in the 'iver 9ordan# represents both a symbol of purification and the entrance to new life. ). "kechukwu Me>u discusses the importance of rivers in both mythology and poetry in his study The Poetry of Leo)old Sedar Senghor: N(he river in most societies is considered a source of life# of new life in particular: a source of ablution and purification.O *e then mentions several poets who absorb this view into their work# such as *ughes and -hitman# whose Npersonification of the river is not far removed from the anthropomorphism and pantheism that characteri>e certain elements in frican traditional religion.O

(opics for 0urther )tudy

'ivers were vital to early civili>ations# yet today many suffer from a variety of types of pollution. Choose one of the rivers mentioned in the poem and report on its current condition. 'esearch the importance of the *arlem 'enaissance in giving voice to the soul of the frican+ merican community. Investigate braham !incolnLs role in abolishing slavery. *ughes connects the frican+ merican soul with rivers. -rite an e3tended metaphor connecting your spirit to some aspect of nature.

About "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

Many writers and poets have written about the importance of !angston *ughes' poem# .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers.. *ere is one brief essay by "nwuchekwa 9emie. .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. is perhaps the most profound of these poems of heritage and strength. Composed when *ughes was a mere $: years old# and dedicated to -. E. /. ,u/ois# it is a sonorous evocation of transcendent essences so ancient as to appear timeless# predating human e3istence# longer than human memory. (he rivers are part of ;od's body# and participate in his immortality. (hey are the earthly analogues of eternity: deep# continuous# mysterious. (hey are named in the order of their association with black history. (he black man has drunk of their life+giving essences# and thereby borrowed their immortality. *e and the rivers have become one. (he magical transformation of the Mississippi from mud to gold by the sun's radiance is mirrored in the transformation of slaves into free men by !incoln's 6roclamation <and# in *ughes's poems# the transformation of shabby cabarets into gorgeous palaces# dancing girls into 1ueens and priestesses by the spell of black music=. s the rivers deepen with time# so does the black man's soul2 as their waters ceaselessly flow# so will the black soul endure. (he black man has seen the rise and fall of civili>ations from the earliest times# seen the beauty and death+changes of the world over the thousands of years# and will survive even this merica. (he poem's meaning is related to ?ora Neale *urston's @udgment of the mythic *igh 9ohn de Con1uer# whom she held as a symbol of the triumphant spirit of black merica: that 9ohn was of the ./e. class. ./e here when the ruthless man comes# and be here when he is gone.. In a time and place where black life is held cheap and the days of black men appear to be numbered# the poem is a ma@estic reminder of the strength and fullness of history# of the source of that life which transcends even ceaseless labor and burning crosses. 0rom !angston *ughes: n Introduction to (he 6oetry. Copyright 8 $%:A by Columbia 5niversity 6ress.

Poem Analysis of NThe Negro S ea!s o" Ri#ersO by Langston Hughes

(hroughout !angston *ughesL poem# N(he Negro )peaks of 'iversO the theme of roots is prominent and this theme gives rise to the ultimate meaning of the poem# even though the word .roots. itself is not used in the te3t. (he te3tual details of the poem invoke strong imagery related to veins# rivers# and the roots of trees and give the reader a sense of the timelessness of these ob@ects. 0urthermore# through his use of language and images# !angston *ughes is able to create two meanings for the theme of roots since on the one hand they refer to the deep roots like trees have as well as NrootsO in the historical and familial sense. (hrough these images and details# the reader begins to understand the comple3ity of the poem and it is clear that it addresses themes that are much larger than simply rivers or human veinsHit is a statement on the whole of frican+ merican history as it has flourished along rivers# which gave life and allowed Nhuman veinsO and firm historical roots. In the short first stan>a# the speaker in the poem by !angston *ughes states that he has Nknown rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.O 0rom this early point in the point in the poem# images of the canals of veins that run throughout the human body as well as similar images of rivers that wind around and are shaped like veins form our understanding that this poem is about more than blood or water# it is about roots and circuits. !ike veins or rivers# roots run deep and twist irregularly through the medium in which they are planted. (he ancient rivers the speaker talks of are like the blood in veins or the roots under trees because they provide sustenance and can give and support life. (his is later supported when the speaker discusses early civili>ations that thrived off the river system# thus the theme of NrootsO has a dual meaning. lthough that will be addressed# it is important to point out that after the first stan>a there is a sentence that stands by itself for emphasis that simply states in one of the more important lines in .(he Negro )peaks of 'ivers. by !angston *ughes# NMy soul has grown deep like the rivers.O (his stand+alone line prefaces the issues that will be discussed in the following lines and makes the reader see that rivers are not like the long probing roots of a tree or human veins# but rivers are similar to the soul and# like *ughes' 1uest for identity# never ending. -hen the speaker says that his soul is deep like the rivers# he is saying that because of this almost organic connection with the earth# he thrives and can understand. It is also significant that he says his soul has NgrownO deep like the rivers since the idea that it NgrowsO further emphasi>es the organic nature of knowledge and oneLs soul. !ike tree roots that e3tend far into the earth# the speaker is NnourishedO by roots# both in physical terms <the rivers and human veins= as well as in the metaphorical sense. (he third section changes the tone of the poem since it reverts to the first+person perspective. lthough the reader knows it is impossible for one person to have lived in so many places and time periods at once# it is understood that the NIO being used is meant to represent hundreds of thousands of voices from the past to the present. (he speaker says# NI bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young E I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled it me to sleepO which makes the reader aware that the Nancient riversO spoken of before are the NrootsO both in terms of history as well as physically. (he theme of rivers is continued in the following lines where the speaker details looking along the Nile and then hearing singing in Mississippi and New "rleans and it is clear that these are locations of particular importance in frican and frican+ merican history. (he speaker seems to be e1uating survival with the rivers since# like veins and roots# the rivers provide nutrients <also in the metaphorical sense= necessary to survival and growth. 5nderlying all of these statements about rivers is the theme of roots. (hese rivers are all in separate locations and though they are like individual trees with separate root systems# they are of the same variety and can support and give life. long with this idea is the fact that the roots of frican and frican+ merican history are not only within the people or the overarching soul of a group of people# but that they are within the souls that Nhave grown deep like the riversO they have thrived along for centuries. fter the speaker has highlighted the many rivers important to the NrootsO of the souls of people# there is another line break# which seems to be separated for added emphasis. (he speaker states# NILve known rivers E ncient# dusky riversO and the whole theme of the roots of knowing and understanding are brought full circle. 9ust as when the speaker said his soul had NgrownO deep# in this separated section when he says# NILve knownO rivers he is making a reference to the roots of knowledge. (rees have been associated with knowledge from as early on as the /ible <the

(ree of Inowledge= and the theme of roots he invokes here not only addresses the roots of history# circuits# and the soul# but also of knowledge and understanding. (his knowledge he refers to is more akin to omniscient cultural knowledge and identity and the roots# which are fed by the metaphorical river and maintained by the human veins and bloodlines of generations. (he speaker ends the poem with the repeated phrase# NMy soul has grown deep like the riversO and after reading the stan>as that followed after the first time he stated it# the meaning is both clearer and more comple3 since we reali>e so many issues of history# the soul# culture# and understanding are being discussed * If you are using this article as a study guide or as a resource for your own essays, please make sure to cite it as your source with proper citation, (even if you are just using a few important quotes or the same thesis statement or thesis statements) as this essay or article is copyrighted material. For a short summary of citation guides, please visit the !" main we#site where tips and analysis on how to properly cite references can #e found.*

http://www.articlemyriad.com/ !".htm