Question

PLEASE HELP!

Langston Hughes’s poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," created a powerful impression when it was first published in 1921. African American readers recognized it immediately as a great poem about their heritage. Critics in general praised it lavishly. Write an essay in which you analyze how the poem achieves its effectiveness.

Answer 1

This poem is very effective in mentioning the African American heritage by mentioning distant places and times.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Negro Speaks of Rivers poem by Langston Hughes talks about African Americans’ heritage in a beautiful way. It never mentions their homeland but it does talk about all the ancient rivers from the Euphrates to the Nile and all the time and history that is among all the rivers and places he mentions. All these places make the African Americans who and what they are considering all the historic events that took place from faraway lands and history like the Euphrates all the way to New Orleans, their home, now.

He mentions the time that passed by since youth to old age building what African Americans are nowadays.

This is a very effective way of talking about heritage because it mentions the beginning of history with the first civilizations, the origins of their culture at the Congo, he mentions how they passed and enriched the Egyptians helping with the building of the pyramids and how at the end they are enriching the American Culture and way of living with all this history they bring with them.