Poem Post #2: Responding to "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 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. 

      This poem, to say the least, is interesting. The body of the poem is completely reminiscent of the title, and there doesn't seem to be any specific revelation of meaning through the body of the poem towards its title. It's almost like an anti-joke, not in the way that it is amusing or entertaining, but that it doesn't take any unexpected turns or have a specific line that illuminates meaning. This is really complex because at this point in time, a poem that is predictable is unexpected. In a way, the fact that we expect the unexpected, also means that we do not expect the expected. It's difficult to explain but I hope you follow what I mean... I also feel like this surprising lack of surprise is intentional by the author of the poem. Perhaps it contributes to the intended meaning of the body of the poem. Judging by the time period in which Langston Hughes lived (1902-1967), he probably experienced a good amount of racism and witnessed first hand what segregation was like at the time. From this information, it can be derived that his poems have to do something with the grim past of his ancestors, and perhaps in this specific poem, he is taking the role of an African  being taken away from his family through the rivers around the world whose only option to cope is to talk about his surroundings to forget about what he is going through. At least for a sole instant.