Respond to the River’s Song: Yearn for Peace

We rush past the river and don’t hear the song. We lose when that happens, lose songs of honesty about the foolishness of nationalism and war and the beauty of peace and nature. (Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash)

Personification gives human qualities to non-human things; this technique allows communicators to create meaning and extract lessons from such elements that we humans can understand. It creates visualization and sympathy, among other qualities.

Dr. Angelou personifies Nature in this powerful, evocative work. Why would she? Perhaps she did this because in the normal course of events, we do not pay much attention, certainly political, ethical, or sociological attention, to rocks, rivers, or trees. They’re just there, we assume. However, giving them voice as Dr. Angelou does allows these elements of Nature the ability to evoke extraordinary human concerns, which is characteristic of the Romantic Period of literature.

The Rock cries, which indicates an alarm, a call to attention and awakening for us to take stock of where we have been and where we are headed. The River sings, which allures and moves us to observe the foolishness of greedy nationalism; then, the song turns to rebuke and a call to social action.

Music appeals to our emotions, and as the reader becomes enrapt in the song, we are suddenly directed to observe the ugly way we have polluted the River’s shores, symbolic of how society has polluted the dignity of humanity with bigotry and hatred borne of ego. Such lower level energies attract even lower ego…