The Negro Speaks of Rivers

This poem contains no set metrical pattern or rhyme scheme. It is written entirely in free verse with lines that are all end-stopped, meaning there is no inherent enjambment in the poem—the lines are enjambed only when the print format necessitates as much, with a narrower page-width creating those line breaks. Lines 2 and 7 especially are unconventionally long, but if printed on a wide enough page, there is no enjambment. There are two possible reasons for this unorthodox form: the influence of Walt Whitman, and the rejection of traditionally European poetic forms.

Whitman was one of Hughes’s biggest influences, and his style famously included long lines, no set rhymes or meter, and everyday language. Hughes follows that approach in this and many of his other poems.

The rejection of classical European poetic structures, however, is rooted in the contemporary debate among African American writers, who questioned whether they should engage the European tradition or reject it. While there was never a clear consensus, Hughes very much rejected traditional form, preferring free verse and formal experimentation.