In what ways does "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" reflect quite well the statement that poetic images are evocative.

In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," Langston Hughes writes of
rivers. Rivers are a life source and have existed throughout history. So shall the black
man or woman exist throughout history.

The first person
voice is a "collective voice of black people from ancient times (3000 b.c.e.) to the
present." When the speaker states that his "soul has grown deep like the rivers," he is
linking "the movement and endurance and power of the great rivers to black
history."

Just as the rivers have endured throughout
history, so has the black man endured. Just as the rivers have been a source of life for
centuries, so shall the black man exist right beside these great rivers. The black man
is an permanent image just as the rivers are permanent images. As long as there are
rivers, the black man shall survive. No doubt, the "purpose of the poem seems to evoke
feelings of cultural connectedness."

The poem is "perhaps
the most profound of [Hughes] poems of heritage and strength." The speaker of the poem
recognizes a connection to Africa and African culture as he speaks of
rivers.

No doubt, the black man shall exist and endure and
grow deep as the rivers. Just as the rivers run and cut through obstacles of earth and
rock, so shall the black man or woman persevere through trials and
tribulations.

The poem evokes feelings of pride and
strength. It is a celebration of the black
experience:

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.