As a result, at the end of the novel, the ocean beckons and she follows. She swims into the inviting and seductive sea, never to return. In the ocean, she is free. Similarly, in Langston Hughes poetry, nature serves as a strong symbol for triumphs and defeat of the soul. He uses the imagery of rivers to demonstrate the speaker s connection with the earth and nature in his poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers .
Rivers symbolize the lifeline of the earth.
When the speaker refers to the rivers, he is reflecting on his connection with the earth. He feels a part of the earth, and it is almost as if his soul is kindred to the earth when he says, My soul has grown deep like the rivers. In this poem, Langston Hughes uses the imagery and symbolism of rivers as an expression of the oneness between the soul and the earth. In the poem Sun Song , by Langston Hughes, there is a similar expression of the affinity between man and earth, yet a subtle contrast exists. In this poem, nature is not viewed as wholly perfect.