Why Is Cullen So Important To The New Negro?

Along with this viewpoint, he stessed black distinctiveness within notions of spirituality and creativity. In much of his works, this idea of black distinctiveness was paralled with the legitimacy of black literary independence, another concept of which he was a proponent.

Cullen's poems seem to focus a lot more on the African heritage than on being an African American. His use of rhyme instead of just rhythm makes his poems flow well with his images and views. "Heritage" is clearly a poem about how African Americans should embrace their African heritage, and to remember all that African Americans had to go through to be what they are today, and to always fight to preserve their culture. Not only do African Americans need to understand their heritage but they must also show all of America that they are there and that they are Americans too. There are also African Americans who will not accept the simple fact that all are Americans, and they will still separate white from black, as is seen from the poem "Uncle Jim". " "White folks is white," says uncle Jim", show to me that not all African Americans were ready for this new awakening and new point in history, that they were so set in their ways that there was no changing them.

Cullen is hopeful to get to a place where people of different races will be able to look at others without prejudice and discrimination. However, the poem “Incident” is of a less positive tone. She expresses her experience in a shocked manner, saying, a boy stuck his “tongue out and, called, [her] ‘Nigger’,” (Cullen 8). She was so shocked that “From May until December; .../… of all the things that happened... /… that’s all [she could remember” in Baltimore (Cullen 10-12). At the young age that she was at, it is surprising and upsetting to her to be discriminated against for no reason.

Cullen’s poem is based off of God’s actions while McKay’s poem has no reference to God. Religious figures have been an important component of human lives for centuries and it was very important to African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. This was the case for Cullen’s poem, “I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,” (1). Right in the beginning of his poem, he mentions some of his many feelings towards God. He continues to refer to God several times throughout his poem. The way he includes God in his poem suggests that God is the focal point of his problems. McKay’s poem, however, focuses the causes of his problems on something much different than a god or religion. In his mind, the source of his problem doesn’t come from God, but from white Americans. I think it is very interesting how opposite Cullen’s and McKay’s views on religion are. On one side, Cullen is a typical African American living in the Harlem Renaissance, using faith as an escape and reason for his troubles. McKay also shares a common characteristic of African Americans at this time which is to put the blame for his issues on white Americans. Cullen’s and McKay’s views on religion differed

Annie Dillard’s “This is the Life”, an addition to the publication of “A Journal of Art and Religion”, Dillard persuades the readers to ponder the purpose of their lives. Dillard provokes self-contemplation through asking and repeating rhetorical questions and phrases, illusions that support her point, and an inspirational didactic tone.

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

Hughes was a great writer with much diversity in his types of writings. His poetry was a way for us to see a picture of urban life during the Harlem Renaissance, the habits, attitudes, and feelings of his oppressed people. These poems did more than reveal the pain of poverty, it also illustrated racial pride and dignity. “His main concern was the uplift of his people, whose strengths, resiliency, courage, and humor he wanted to record as part of the general American experience” (Wikipedia, Langston Hughes). Hughes was not ashamed of his heritage and his main theme, “black is beautiful,” was expressed and shared to the world through his poetry. During the literary movement, music was central to the cultural movement of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a main feature of Hughes’s poetry. He had an important technical influence by his emphasis on folk, jazz, and blues rhythms as the basis of his poetry of racial pride. Hughes used this unique style of writing because it was important to him to have the readers feel and experience what they were reading, “to recognize the covert rhetoric in lyric means to appreciate the overlap between emotive and discursive poetry. Rooted in song, the lyric reestablishes the ritual of human communion” (Miller 52).

Hughes thinks that everyone has rights to be them self and everyone has their own beauty. People can be what ever they want they can be black artist if they want or they can white artist if they want, the only thing he wanted to tell people was that be proud of who you are, don’t try to be someone else who you are not. Langston Hughes gives an example where a young poet says “ I want to be a poet – not a Negro poet” Hughes thinks that the young kid wants to be white. Form my point of view the young poet said he wants to be poet but not Negro because in during 1920’s white people were like superior and they have higher chances to become well known person. So when the young poet said he doesn’t want to be a Negro poet he actually meant that he would become well known poet if

Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and

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’ style of poetry renounced the classical style of poetry and sought out a more jazz and folk rhythm style. Most of Hughes’ poems were written during the Harlem Renaissance, named after the cultural activity African Americans participated in, such as: literature, music, art, theatre, and political thinking. William Blake, on the other hand, was a nonconformist who was associated with the leading radical thinkers of his day. Although, considered a lyric poet and a visionary, Blake’s poetry was not read by many, yet he still believed that his poetry could be understood by common people and was determined not to sacrifice his vision to become popular.

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

“I have a rendezvous with life” (Cullen). He does not literally have a meeting with life, but that he will one day truly live and be happy. This is a quote of Countee Cullen, an African American poet that became famous during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s. He has written many famous poems that have influenced African Americans throughout time. This was a hard time for blacks to be themselves, so when he said he has a meeting with life he really is trying to say that one day, he will finally be himself. Among his famous poems, there are two poems that are very powerful, called ¨Tableau¨ and ¨Incident¨. The poem ¨Tableau¨ is about two kids, one black and one white, walking down the street arm and arm with people staring and talking about them as they pass. This poem shows that friendship is more powerful than stereotypes, while ¨Incident¨ shows that words are powerful. That poem by Countee Cullen tells the story of a boy walking around Baltimore and a man calling him the n-word. That's all the boy remembers in that trip to Baltimore, even though he was there from May to December. Both themes can be seen throughout their poems through figurative language and the tone of the writing.

attitude toward Clara is shown in the passage when the doctor knocks at the door

He never experienced a perfect world, he has always had to struggle with being colored. This struggle was originally inquisitive but now it is restless, starting to become angry. Cullen points out that God is good, although at the end of the poem he questions why he was created black. During this time period, being black was one of the biggest struggles that a person could encounter. Not only that, but a black poet was unheard of, so Cullen’s destiny seemed very hazy. He is marveling at the fact that God chose to create him this way, however, he has a hard time accepting it, just like Milton. Cullen highlights this marvel by using lists to describe the three qualities of God that affirm God’s goodness. The strong mood of religious reflection in this poem comes from the African-American community where religion and being close to God is vital. A second important theme for Cullen is his race, which is shown as the focal point and the obstacle that he faces. On the one hand, the poet's black skin is included in the same category as the “blindness of the mole” (Cullen, line 3) or the punishments of “Tantalus and Sisyphus” (Cullen, line 5 & 7). This is another example that examines God, and possibly why He made humans different races. On the other hand, the poet takes pride from his race when he acknowledges that God’s sovereign right to do as He pleases will