Reviews for The Negro Speaks of Rivers

The average rating for The Negro Speaks of Rivers based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-06-02 00:00:00 Roger Ryan Langston Hughes' powerful and classic poem is gorgeously illustrated by E. B. Lewis! ============ Reflective of the depth of this poem, here is a thoughtful analysis in the Los Angeles Review of Books (Aug. 1, 2013) by Alexandra Socarides: The Poems (We Think) We Know: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes By Alexandra Socarides ============ Langston Hughes's poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is in the public domain, first published in The Crisis: A Record of The Darker Races, New York, NY, USA: NAACP, June 1921, p. 17. Full text of Langston Hughes' poem: "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 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."

Review # 2 was written on 2019-10-29 00:00:00 Eric Lamoe "I've known rivers," begins Langston Hughes' famous poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, written when the poet was just twenty years old. A work that would go on to become the anthem, of sorts, of the Harlem Renaissance, it is here made into a picture-book, paired with the stunning artwork of E.B. Lewis, himself a long-time Hughes admirer. This isn't a very long poem, but it speaks volumes - I can never read the line "My soul has grown deep like the rivers," without feeling a shiver down my spine - and Lewis captures its depth of feeling, and its gravitas to perfection. Rivers run through our lives, and through history, and that is something that Lewis obviously understands, as witnessed by his illustrations, and also by his comments, in his brief afterword, about the importance of water in his life. The self-portrait, in which he depicts himself praying, while submerged (partially?) in water, is particularly powerful, although I also liked the one of the three children at play. With beautiful illustrations and a brilliant poem, what's not to love?