Hughes poem is a nice one because it is about the speaker almost as much, if not more so than the rivers spoken of.
But what caught my attention was the line about Abe Lincoln:
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans,
This line made me look into a little history. When did Lincoln go down to New Orleans? Apparently when he was a young man in 1828 and 1831 transporting cargo via flatboat to New Orleans. It is at 19 yrs of age when Lincoln observed his first slave auction in New Orleans. So, according to the poem, the Mississippi was singing as the 19-year old Lincoln rode it on a raft two years before his first political speech, 32 years before he was elected US President, and 35 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. The speaker of the poem doesn't say how the Mississippi sang or why it did. One thing is apparent in the poem: the speaker believes Abraham Lincoln was destined.
4 comments:
I liked the interpretation you got from the Mississippi singing when Abe Lincoln rode it when he was 19 years old. From that line, I took that the river was supportive of Abe Lincoln (if that's even possible) but I didn't realize he was only 19 years at the time, so it was a sort of foreshadowing. Thanks for doing the research and finding that fact! It adds a new element to the line for me.
Don't you just love poetry. One line can hold so much. I wish I could write like that. I love that you looked further into that line because I now have a better understanding of the Rivers. HOW INTERESTING!!
We watched the PBS document on Lewis and Clark. I marvel at their adventure and what the Missouri River was at the time. I believe a second reading of their journal would reveal some of the songs of the Missouri.
Really liked this poem, and yet completely bypassed the line about Lincoln. You're curiosity was well placed and I'm a little disappointed with myself for having missed the significance of the line. Well done!
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