Introduction Langston Hughes, who was both African-American and gay, wrote about how it felt to be African American, from the pain of racial prejudice to his deep pride in his culture and heritage. The two poems below are among his most famous.

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 [river in the Middle East] when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo [river in Central Africa] and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile [river in Egypt] 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 [dark] rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

My People

The night is beautiful,

So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,

So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.

Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

Analyze Style and Rhetoric In both poems, Hughes repeats words and sentence structures. What effect does this style have?