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"Langston Hughes." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 01 Aug. 2016. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

LangstonHughes. "Still Here." Famous Poem by Langston Hughes. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

LangstonHughes. "The Negro Speaks Of Rivers." Famous Poem by Langston Hughes. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

"On "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"." On "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

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1. Hyperbole - A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. " Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me" (Langston Hughes, "Still Here", line 3). Since the speaker is going through a lot in their life and being discriminated against, he exaggerates on how he feels by saying how the snow freezes him and the sun baking him when it is really not.

2. Rhyme - Words rhyme when the sounds of their accented vowels and all succeeding sounds are identical. " I been scared and battered, My hopes the wind done scattered." (Langston Hughes, "Still Here", line 1). " But I don't care! I'm still here!" (Langston Hughes, "Still Here", line 8). Hughes rhymes the words "battered" and "scattered" and also "care" and "here" in the poem. The lines in the beginning imply how the speaker is discriminated or battered and at the end the speaker says that they don't care about the discrimination rhyming care and here implying that they will stay strong and move on.

3. Repetition - Technique in which a sound, word, phrase or line is repeated for emphasis or unity. " Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--" (Langston Hughes, "Still Here", line 7). Repetition is used for the word "stop" implying that the speaker is being told to stop living life and being discriminated against but the reader says he doesn't care and is still there.

4. Simile - A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as".  "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." (Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", line 4)  Here the poet is comparing his soul that has been forced to mature quickly to a the depth of the rivers.

5. Personification - Giving non human objects human qualities.  "I heard the singing of the Mississippi"(Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", line 8) In this line Hughes give a river the ability to sing which is something that only humans can usually do.

6. Imagery - Using descriptive language to create a mental image of the scene in the reader's head.  "I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset."(Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", lines 9-10) The use of the words "muddy" and "golden" come together to create images in the audience's minds.

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"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes portrays a theme of memory and slavery stating how slavery started from the beginning of civilization until the end of slavery in America. Langston Hughes talks about the themes of memory and the past about slavery sating how he journeyed through the four rivers in different countries which had history of slavery. "I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young." (Hughes, line 5). The meaning of this poem is to inform about the history of beautiful rivers and their background of slavery. Langston states how he heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln's body was being transported to New Orleans. "I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans" (Hughes, line 8). When Langston Hughes says that his soul has grown deep like the rivers are, he is implying how the immortality of the rivers from their slavery has affected him. "The black man has drunk of their life-giving essences, and thereby borrowed their immortality. He and the rivers have become one." (english.illinois.edu). The structure of the poem is broken down into eight stanzas with a total of 13 lines. The poem is a free verse type of poem meaning that their is not much rhyming. The poem also includes many repetitions such as the phrase "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." (Hughes, lines 4 & 13). The historical context of the poem was when Langston Hughes was around 17 years old on a train to Mexico and saw the Mississippi River and remembered its history of slavery. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is perhaps the most profound of these poems of heritage and strength. Composed when Hughes was a mere 17 years old" (english.illinois.edu).

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The poem "Still Here" by Langston Hughes exemplifies a theme of how important it is to never give up on what you want.  This is interpreted when he states,"I'm still here!"(Hughes, 9)  showing that no matter what happens to him, he can still bounce back.  This poem is a nine line poem split into five stanzas  of unequal length.  The meaning is deeply rooted in the era in which he wrote in.  "His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s." (poets.org)  This time period existed during discrimination against black people in America where, where they created many new art works. In a post slavery America a black man had to keep his chin up no matter what was being thrown at him. In the end that is the true meaning of this poem.

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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.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile 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 rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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I been scared and battered.

My hopes the wind done scattered.

Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

Looks like between 'em they done
Tried to make me

Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--
But I don't care!
I'm still here!

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James Mercer Langston Hughes was Born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. When he was a young child, his parents divorced and was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen. At thirteen, he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband before they settled in Cleveland, Ohio. During his stay in Lincoln, Hughes began to write poetry. He attended college at Columbia University in New York City often holding in odd jobs such as a seaman or busboy. In 1924, Hughes moved to Washington, D.C. having his first book of poetry eventually being published in 1926, The Weary Blues. In 1929, Hughes finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and also wrote his first novel one year later in 1930, Not Without Laughter, which won the Harmon gold medal.
Hughes is best known for his writings that portray black life in America from the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance to the 1960s. From all kinds of writing such as plays, novels, short stories, he also was engaged in the world of jazz. Hughes writings were wrote in ways that applied to all people, specifically to the black people. He wrote so that anyone who can read can understand the writings language and themes, attitudes and ideas. Hughes wrote eleven plays and works of prose which include the famous work of the "Simple" books.
In May 22, 1967, Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer in New York City. In honor of his memory, the New York City Preservation Commission gave him a landmark status and renamed the East 127th Street "Langston Hughes Place."