In the early 20th century, many writers such as TS Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) and Langston Hughes wrote what today's scholars consider to be modern poetry. Writers of this era had their own ideas about what modern poetry should be and many of them claimed to have written modern works. According to TS Eliot's essay, "From Tradition," modern poetry must consist of "a traditional subject of a much wider significance." . . if [one] wants it, [he] must obtain it by great work. . . no poet, no artist of any art, has its complete meaning alone. Its meaning, its appreciation is the appreciation of its relationship with dead poets and artists” (550). In other words, tradition only comes from within the artist or art itself; therefore, it should be universally monumental in the past tense. And Langston Hughes argues that African Americans should embrace and appreciate their own artistic virtues; he wishes to break with the Eurocentric tradition and hopes to create a new model for African-American-Negroes. To deeply analyze Hughes' poem, using Eliot's argumentative essay, we must first identify the speaker of the poem and what is symbolic. about the speaker? The title ("The Negro Speaks of Rivers") of the poem would allude to the racial identity of the speaker, as the word Negro represents the African American race not only universally, but in its own individual sphere. TS Eliot's essay mentions that "each nation, each race has not its own creative spirit, but its own critical spirit" (549). In another sense, different societies have their own characteristics, but with racial mixing, dark elements can form. If one were to analyze between the lines of Eliot's essay and Hughes' poem, it...... middle of paper ...... once transported African American slaves; the presidential character is a marker of time for the reader. Another analytical reference from Eliot's essay would be "the poem must be very conscious of the main current, which does not at all flow invariably through the most distinguished reputations"; the speaker refers to slave tradition and makes a clear statement about the south, using Abe Lincoln as the time period. Finally, Langston Hughes' poem, "The Negro Speaks Of Rivers," ends with "I have known rivers: / Ancient, dark rivers." / My soul has become deep like rivers (8-10). The speaker expresses his last breath to which, from an analytical point of view, the theme of death arises. Langston Hughes follows TS Eliot's suggestion in asking the African American race to alienate itself by adopting its own art form, claiming that black is beautiful..