1. The negro Speaks of Rivers
by Langston Hughes
Presented by Shelia K. Diaz

3. The Negro Speaks of Rivers
by Langston Hughes
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.
=
.

6. I looked upon the Nile and
raised the pyramids above
it.

8. Vocabulary and Key Concepts
• Euphrates, Nile, Congo, Mississippi, Abe
Lincoln
• Huts, dawns, ancient, flow veins, bosom,
dusky
• Negro, Euphrates, Pyramids

9. Resources
• The Negro Speaks of Rivers, read by Langston
Hughes (includes Hughes’ explanation of how
he came to write this poem.)
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMI
D/15722
• Biography of Langston Hughes -
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83
• Quick facts about Langston Hughes:
http://www.enotes.com/authors/langston-
hughes