Langston Hughes wrote that African American poets should promote black pride through their art. His poems "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and "I, Too" both aim to achieve this goal, but differ in their approaches. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" uses metaphor and personification to connect the speaker's ancestry to grand ancient rivers, expressing pride through imagery. "I, Too" more directly asserts the speaker's presence and equality within America through direct statements, better achieving Hughes' stated aim of helping African Americans embrace their identity rather than desire to be white.

1. [From 10$/Pg] Poem Better Achieves Hughes
[From 10$/Pg] Poem Better Achieves Hughes Langston Hughes wrote a famous piece of
literary criticism, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” in which he posits that the
“job” of an African American poet is to promote black pride. Hughes asserts that an African
American poet should “change through the force of his art that old whispering ‘I want to be
white’…to ‘Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro—and beautiful’” (701). Focusing on
this assertion, compare “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “I, Too.” Considering theme,
speaker, metaphor, personification, and/or other literary devices, let your comparison bring
you to an evaluation of the poems. Which poem better achieves Hughes’ stated goal? (Be
sure to answer the question in bold in your
thesis!)https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44428/the-
n...https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46480/i-hea...