Countee Cullen Essay

Upon first glance the differences between Hughes and Cullen seem very clear. Hughes writes in rhythm, while Cullens writes in rhyme, but those are just the stylistic differences. Hughes and Cullen may write poems in a different style but they both write about similar themes. The time they wrote in was during the Harlem Renaissance, a time period when African Americans were discovering their heritage and trying to become accepted in the once white dominated society. The African Americans had their own cultures and their own style of music and writing but they wanted everyone to know they were still human, that they were still American, even though the differences in color were

The poems “Tableau” and “Incident” by Countee Cullen are about racism, but both have a different take on it. The African American author wrote in 1900’s , when racism was common and more acceptable. Cullen’s work became more popular during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s. Both poems are developed with different writing mechanics to convey a clear message to the reader or audience. Cullen uses figurative language and tone to develop the theme in each text.

The well known poet Langston Hughes was an inspiring character during the Harlem Renaissance to provide a push for the black communities to fight for the rights they deserved. Hughes wrote his poetry to deliver important messages and provide support to the movements. When he was at a young age a teacher introduced him to poets Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman, and they inspired him to start his own. Being a “darker brother,” as he called blacks, he experienced and wanted his rights, and that inspired him. Although literary critics felt that Langston Hughes portrayed an unattractive view of black life, the poems demonstrate reality. Hughes used the Blues and Jazz to add effect to his work as well as his extravagant word use and literary

The Harlem Renaissance was cultural, social and movement that took place in the 1930’s. During this time white America started to recognize the contributions of African American’s. Many great works came out of the Harlem Renaissance. Such as Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, W.E.B Du Bois. Zora Neale Hurston was one of the many authors that contributed to the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston an African American author, whose work emerged during the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston as a revolutionary, who made a difference throughout her life and through her work. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing several works of literature, contributing to the acceptance of African Americans, and by helping to preserve folklore and African American culture.

Langston Hughes was a poet with many artistic abilities. His writing and drawings established the lifestyles of many African Americans during this time. In a poem called “I, Too” Hughes express his feelings as an African American, a brother, and someone who deserves to fit in society. He states “I, too sing America” (1039). Hughes saw himself as an individual who has a voice in America even though his skin is a little darker. In a poem called “Democracy” Hughes states: “I have as much right as the other fellow has to stand on my own two feet and own the land” (1043). Hughes was speaking for every African American whom were still dealing with segregation, racism, and freedom.

The first poet I chose from the Harlem Renaissance was the American poet, Countee Cullen This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African Americans. (Brown, 2012) The work, Yet Do I Marvel, took a racial theme, lynching of a black youth for a crime he did not commit. The poem is stark and makes reference to Sisyphus and speaks of how life is a struggle up a never ending stair. It speaks to God as if to wonder why, knowing that God is benevolent he does not stop the unreasoning actions of brutes against, “flesh that mirrors him”, meaning the black race. (Brown, 2012) This line is important as it shows that the black consciousness is coming to recognition of their own worth taken

This is where his love for poetry was birthed and gained an audience. He also participated in literary contests one of which he made a poem "I Have a Rendezvous with Life," that was inspired by Alan Seeger's "I Have a Rendezvous with Death." He continued his great work and produced his first three volumes: Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927). “He was certainly not the first Negro to attempt to write such verse but he was first to do so with such extensive education and with such a complete understanding of himself as a poet” (Early 2001). This was said in response to the fact that his writing was considered to be “white”. Nevertheless, this was the genesis of the Harlem Renaissance regime. As Clifton Johnson indicated, Alain Locke (1926) extended praises to him in Opportunity: "Ladies and Gentlemen! A genius! Posterity will laugh at us if we do not proclaim him now. Color transcends all of the limiting qualifications that might be brought forward if it were merely a work of talent." In 1947, an incredible collection of Cullen's poetry, On These I Stand: An Anthology of the Best Poems of Countee Cullen was published. His work paid off after death when public schools were named after him and Harlem's 135th Street Branch library now being called the Countee Cullen Library. Also, literary scholars are referring to Cullen's life and writings as the years go by and in 2012 a biography of Cullen was published, And Bid Him Sing, by Charles

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 1920s that led to the evolution of African-American culture, expression through art, music, and literary works, and the establishment of African roots in America. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance with her original and enticing stories. However, Hurston’s works are notorious (specifically How it Feels to Be Colored Me and Their Eyes Were Watching God) because they illustrate the author’s view of black women and demonstrate the differences between their views and from earlier literary works.

Countee Cullen is one of the most well-known poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Born as Countee LeRoy Porter, Cullen was raised by his maternal grandmother for the first few years of his life. He later was adopted by the Cullen family to become Countee Cullen. With his adoptive family, Cullen lived in Harlem, New York, which later became the headquarters of the Harlem Renaissance. Being raised in the center of this all-black society influenced Cullen’s style of writing. The man’s writing style is distinctly demonstrated in his poem, “Fruit of the Flower”. In “Fruit of the Flower”, Cullen conveys the message that African-Americans should be treated as equal to white Americans. The song, “Team”, written and vocalized by Lorde, a modern pop

Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks are regarded as highly influential poets in African American literature, which continues to inspire writers to this day. Langston Hughes is a well-known pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement in which African Americans in Harlem during post World War I and the early 1930’s began a cultural and artistic revolution. During this time, African American musicians, artists, writers, and poets revolutionized their position in and through many artistic fields of expression. This cultural and artistic revolution redefined how America viewed the African American population, which garnered respect and criticism from Americans nationwide. Gwendolyn Brooks, an African American poet also in the 19th century, was introduced to Langston Hughes at a young age peeking her interest in the Harlem Renaissance that eventually became a foundation and influence in her writing. Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes share similarities in the writing as she was highly inspired by Langston Hughes, but also share many differences that are responsible for making their pieces of writing unique to other authors and each other.

Poetry became a primary medium by which African-Americans could explore the "new Negro" identity that flourished during the Harlem Renaissance (Academy of American Poets). Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Gwendolyn Bennett are among the literary greats of the Harlem Renaissance. Although each poet cultivated a unique style, there

Langston Hughes is one the most renowned and respected authors of twentieth century America not simply one of the most respected African-American authors, though he is certainly this as well, but one of the most respected authors of the period overall. A large part of the respect and admiration that the man and his work have garnered is due to the richness an complexity of Hughes' writing, both his poetry and his prose and even his non-fictions. In almost all of his texts, Hughes manages at once to develop and explore the many intricacies and interactions of the human condition and specifically of the experience growing up and living as a black individual in a white-dominated and explicitly anti-Black society while at the same time, while at the same time rendering his human characters and their emotions in a simple, straightforward, and immensely accessible fashion. Reading the complexity behind the surface simplicity of his works is at once enjoyable and edifying.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time where creativity flourished throughout the African American community. At the time many African Americans were treated as second class citizens. The Harlem Renaissance acted as artistic and cultural outlet for the African-American community. The Harlem Renaissance, otherwise known as “The New Negro Movement” was an unexpected outburst of creative activity among African Americans In the poems Harlem by Langston Hughes, America by Claude McKay, and Incident by Countee Cullen all use frustration and hope as reoccurring themes to help empower the African-American population and realize the injustices they face day to day. The Harlem Renaissance was a period marked by great change and forever altered the

During the 1920’s a new movement began to arise. This movement known as the Harlem Renaissance expressed the new African American culture. The new African American culture was expressed through the writing of books, poetry, essays, the playing of music, and through sculptures and paintings. Three poems and their poets express the new African American culture with ease. (Jordan 848-891) The poems also express the position of themselves and other African Americans during this time. “You and Your Whole Race”, “Yet Do I Marvel”, and “The Lynching” are the three poems whose themes are the same. The poets of these poems are, as in order, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Claude Mckay.

     A few of the notable writers and poets were Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Zora Neale Hurston. Langston Hughes was the most popular and gifted of all poets during this movement. Many of his poems described the different everyday lives of working class African Americans by adapting the rhythms of their music to his poetry. Some of the poems moved to the tempo of jazz and the blues. Another major figure was poet Claude McKay, a Jamaican immigrant whose militant verses urged African Americans to resist prejudice and discrimination. His poems also expressed the pain of life in the black ghettos of the 1920's, and the strain of being black in a world dominated by whites.