Analyze the poem. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Historical Criticism

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“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Historical Criticism
I. Introduction
Throughout the history of literature, authors have revealed information to their readers regarding the time periods in which they lived in, while also displaying parts of their character. A major style that has successfully been used in this manner is poetry. In this paper, I will be analyzing Langston Hughes’s poem titled “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” using historical criticism. This approach seeks to understand a literary work by examining the intellectual, social, and cultural framework that produced it – a framework that substantially includes the author’s milieu.
II. Discussion
After reading Hughes’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” I could see how he felt an inexorable tie to his people’s history. Hughes strategically uses the powerful imagery of the river, a natural resource that is all-together strong, unifying, and primitive as it ties all the vast lands together, to entwine the herculean past of his people with his soul. As an African-American, Hughes is steeped in the beginning of the world, the revered and ancient practices of his ancestors, and the history of America itself in all its pitfalls and triumphs. So, Hughes wants us to see that the history possessed by him and his people commands esteem and attention. Furthermore, Hughes is showing us that America is established on his Negro ancestors; without them, America, as we know it today, would not have been built or advanced as it did. Hughes is attempting to prove to us that no one understands the American dream more than his people who have been kept low and denied for years.
Hughes’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is written in a ...