The Negro Speaks of Rivers

This is the poem I was thinking about when watching the video that Ariel and Jen showed last class. When reading Langston's poem there is the idea of the history and pride of black culture, "I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young" and "My soul has grown deep like the rivers" there is a pride and a demand for acknowledgment but it is subtle.Nikki Giovanni"s poetry is not as subtle as Hughes' and in my opinion,loses impact in meaning. When watching the video I was thinking that she had read "The Negro...",obviously,"My oldest daughter is nefertiti" and that it did have an impact on her. When looking for the video on their blog, I read a post that Ariel had posted about the similarities between Hughes and Giovanni,It was great to see that someone was thinking the same thing,yet her interpretation is a bit different than mine.Ariel explains it better than I did. She does focus in on the time frame of both poets and that is something that I had not considered.If Langston was writing today would his writing be more "in your face"? Perhaps because it is not, it is more sophisticated/subtle/makes you think on your own instead of speaking it out for you?I think Nikki is trying to pick up where Langston left off. It is worthwhile to look at Ariel and Jen's blog.