Poetry Book Review: Multicultural

Langston Hughes
The Dream Keeper and other poems.

The poetry by this artist consists of meanings that are both concrete and abstract and contain a universal truthfulness that continues to stand the test of time. One of his first published poems was "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." It is an historical view of the connection to the world’s veins (rivers) that feed humanity, in his line, “… older than the flow of human blood in human veins." The poem then takes us on a journey inward to the depths of the river, a metaphor for the ageless soul.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

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 dawn 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 Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its

muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Hughes, Langston. 1994. The Dream Keeper and other poems. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf

After reading this poem, I went in search of others and found a new book just published using this poem alone and illustrated by the artist, Earl B. Lewis. This artist through use of watercolors interprets Langston Hughes and would be amazing to show as this poem is read aloud.

Hughes, Langston. 2009. The Negro Speaks of Rivers. New York, NY: Disney Jump at the Sun Books