The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Reprinted with the permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.
Discover this poem’s context and related poetry, articles, and media.
Poet Langston Hughes 1902–1967
SCHOOL / PERIOD Harlem Renaissance
Subjects Social Commentaries, Nature, Seas, Rivers, & Streams, Race & Ethnicity
Poetic Terms Free Verse
Biography
Langston Hughes was first recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the "Harlem Renaissance" because of the number of emerging black writers. Du Bose Heyward wrote in the New York Herald Tribune in 1926: "Langston Hughes, although only twenty-four years old, is already conspicuous in the group of Negro intellectuals who are dignifying Harlem with a genuine art life. . . . It is, however, as . . .
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Social Commentaries, Nature, Seas, Rivers, & Streams, Race & Ethnicity
SCHOOL / PERIOD Harlem Renaissance
Poetic Terms Free Verse
If you disagree with this poem's categorization, make a suggestion.
Related
Audio
Poetry Off the Shelf: I've Known Rivers- Poetry Radio Project: Langston Hughes Poems Discovered
- Poetry Off the Shelf: The Poetry Garage
- Poetry Off the Shelf: When the Weary Blues Met Jazz
April Rain Song- The Black Poet as Canon-Maker
- Langston Hughes and the Broadway Blues
- On Newly Discovered Langston Hughes Poems
- Visualizing Words and Worlds
