Context

Here we are at the beginning of Langston Hughes's "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," and the speaker is baring his soul to us. Basically, the guy has spent a lot of time with rivers, so much so that his soul has become just as deep as them.

He might be talking about physical depth, but we can't forget about the depth of their history and their existence. These rivers have maybe been around for as long as the earth has been in existence (over 4.5 billion years)—so yeah, our speaker's soul is old and has lived through lots of stuff.

Where you've heard it

Only in poetry do people pull out similes like this one.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

When Langston Hughes says it, it's a 1. When you say it, it's a 9.