The poem by Langston Hughes that is intitled, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is a very interesting one. I have come up with my own interpretation. I think that the man who is the narrator is not talking about just himself but on behalf of all African Americans. He talks about how he bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young, meaning back in the beginning of time. He says he raised the pyramids which is a reference to black slaves who were forced to build the pyramids. He also refers to the time when Abraham Lincoln was alive. Obviously he could not have been around for all of these events unless he was immortal. That is why I think that he is referring to his race and all of the generations. -Leigha Bergstrand
             "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." This entire poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," really impressed me. I felt as though I was really getting a chance to peek into a tiny part of the speaker's soul and could see just how deep it ran. I think that the first nine lines of the poem, in which the speaker talked about different rivers, is setting the reader up for the last line. Hughes goes on and on about the rivers of the world and how they are so vast and deep. The way he puts in rivers from all parts of the world only adds to my original interpretation of the poem. Hughes is indirectly expressing how deep and vast his soul has become throughout his life, a life possibly filled with turmoil and suffering, even though he probably has not been able to travel the world, as the rivers do. Associating his soul to the rivers is like letting his soul flow free, like the rivers. -Margaret Evans
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