Two Poems wkst

The Negro Speaks of Rivers – Langston Hughes page 841

1. Identify the four rivers the speaker names in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”

2. What symbolism might be associated with those four rivers?

3. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” what does the age of rivers imply about people of African ancestry?

4. How do lines 3 and 10 reflect the poem’s theme?

5. In what respects can the human race as a whole be compared with rivers?

From the Dark Tower – Countee Cullen page 848-849

6. According to the speaker, who is “abject and mute”?

7. Who is being tended in lines 5-6?

8. What contrast or opposition does the speaker set up in lines 9-10?

9. Who is the “we” of the poem?

10. What is the poem’s theme, or central message?