Reader Response criticism acts more as a literary tool than a well-defined school of criticism. The most important element Reader Response criticism is the interaction between the text and the reader. Many critics from this school of thought believe that a text is non-existent until it is percieved and absorbed into the conciousness of the reader. The reader is to read the text and meditate on the images of personal experience that is evoked upon the initial reading. The reader tempoarily allows their own experience to shadow his/her own thought before discovering what in the text sparked the chain of thought that ensued. The text's meaning is developed in the mind of the reader until she/he is readey to share and compare it to the interpretations of her/his interpretive community.

~~Yvette Nepper

A Collection of Reader Response Interpretations:

Nick Longauer-

" A good question to ask when approaching a work from a Reader Response standpoint is 'who is the actual, implied, and ideal reader' in this poem?' Because this poem was written during the Harlem Renaissance, I think taht the intended reader is probably African-American, but that the implied reader can be anyone, especially because it seems to speak of the struggles overcome by the negro race. Personally, I think that Hughes is detailing the history of the Negro race, stressing the fact that the soul of the race has existed from the dawn of man, the rise of culture, and the triumph over slavery."

Melissa Moody-

Melissa believes that for a modern reader, it is natural to associate the imagery of this poem with slavery and the slaves' homeland of Africa. She sees this as evident in lines 2-3: "I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins." She sees the river as representing a life of struggle and hardships. Also, the river, to her, symbolizes continuity and a steadfast being, possibly reflecting the soul of the speaker.

Yvette Nepper-

"I fet very detached from this poem when I read the title. My assumption about the content of the poem caught me off guard; I've always enjoyed reading African American poetry. I'm assuming a distance between me (the actual reader) and the implied reader that Langston Hughes aimed the work towards. My identity and context is fixed in a predominantly white suburban culture. I am not African-American, and what do I know about rivers? Hwever, the context of the work brought me back to my senses, and renewed my love for African American writing."

Brock Guthrie-

"My initial response to the poem is that "The Negro" that Hughes is referring to tis the collective black race. I think this is obvious from the allusions to the specific rivers and the historical events that occurred near them. It is a short and straitforward poem that simply intends to show how black culture, like these ancient rivers, is deep and rich and very old. It has been here since the beginning of time. The poem is a celebration of the black race, written at a time when they did not have total equality under the law. It is perhaps a testimony towards this end. Perhaps Hughes intends to state an obvious fact by displaying the humanity of a race that is seen as less than human by some."