The Negro Speaks of rivers

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS 1. How does the title affect your reading of and response to the poem? 2. What is the poem about? I could only understand the meaning of the title of the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” after I gave my first opinion about it to my English professor. The poem has a simple, yet carefully chosen use of language, but the intricate ideas and the message the poem sends to the …

…described the new beginning in lives of the Negro when Abraham Lincolns freed the slaves. The word “muddy”not only represented the muddy waters of the Mississippi, but also the uncertain moments in the history of the Negro. “Bosom” was chosen to symbolize the hearts of the slaves, and “…turn all golden in the sunset” was the new feeling of freedom as well as the new life the Negro would have from that moment on.