In the early 20th century, many writers such as TS Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) and Langston Hughes wrote what today's scholars consider modern poetry. Writers of that period had their own ideas about what modern poetry should be, and many of them claimed to write modern works. According to TS Eliot's essay, “From Tradition,” modern poetry must consist of a “traditional matter[al] of much broader significance. . . if [one] wants it, [he] must obtain it with great difficulty. . . no poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. Its meaning, its appreciation is the appreciation of its relationship to the dead poets and artists” (550). In other words, tradition belongs only to the artist or art itself; therefore, it should be universally monumental compared to the past. And Langston Hughes argues that African Americans should embrace and appreciate their artistic virtues; wishes to break away from the Eurocentric tradition and in the hope of creating a new project for the Negro-African-American. To fully 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, since the word Negro represents the African-American race not only universally, but in its individual sphere. In TS Eliot's essay it is stated that "every nation, every race, has its own creative mentality, but a critical one" (549). In another sense, different societies have their own characteristics, however, with racial mixing shadow elements can be formed. If you analyzed between the lines of Eliot's essay and Hughes' poem, he... in the middle of the paper... once ferried African-American slaves; the presidential figure is a sign of the times for the reader. Another analytical reference from Eliot's essay would be “poetry must be very aware of the mainstream, which by no means flows invariably through the most illustrious reputations”; the speaker refers to the 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've aware rivers: / Ancient, dark rivers. / My soul has grown as deep as the rivers (8-10). The speaker gives voice to his last breath to which, from an analytical point of view, the theme of death arises. Langston Hughes follows the suggestion of TS Eliot as he invites the African-American race to alienate itself by embracing its own artistic form, arguing that blackness it's beautiful.