Preview

Countee Cullen Poems

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
330 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Countee Cullen Poems
As American literature started it was hard for an American to be recognized as a writer. Their works were not considered as good poems not matter how good they were. Time past by and more American poets were being recognized for their poetry and books. But later on, racism was not against Americans. Racism was between Americans and Afro-Americans. White people would not read black's poetry they were not even recognized as poets.
One of the first Afro-American poets to be "famous" was Countee Cullen. Countee Cullen's poetry was extremely motivated by race. He produced poetry that celebrates his African American Heritage, exaggerates black heroism, and reveals the reality of being black in the world. Many of his works talk about racism and the way a black person looks at the world.
Three of his famous works were The incident, Saturday's child, and Simon the Cyrenian speaks. Resembling to all of his poems, in "The Incident" and "Simon the Cyrenian speaks", Cullen talks about racism. The poem "The Incident" deals with the effect racism has on a young black child vacationing in Baltimore. The child is mistreated by a white child and disturbed in his innocence so much that after spending seven months that is all he can remember. In the poem "Simon the Cyrenian" Cullen talks about the racism Simon suffers. He has to carry Christ cross for the only reason of being black. He talks about the great cause that Jesus died and that no man follows.
Cullen uses rhyme in these three poems. Although he uses it in a different format the three of them has it. In the poem "Saturday's child" and "Simon the Cyrenian speaks" Cullen uses rhymes every two stanzas, and in the "Incident" Cullen uses rhyme every other stanza.
These three poems are very similar to each other; they all talk about racism and poverty in a black person. In all the poems rhyme is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Each person has their different views on African American experience. Most expressed that through poems in the Harlem Renaissance time. Poets such as Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen and Jean Toomer expressed emotions and they’re point of views in writing. In Jean Toomer’s poem he talks about African American experience speaking about embracing the ideal human race that isn’t concerned with color. Cullen referred poetry as a tool to break down racial barriers for African Americans, although he preferred to use classical form. Bontemps’s work of poetry focuses on the themes of dignity and justice and is influenced by oral traditions and music of African Americans.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In both poems people reflect on relationships that have gone wrong. Write about both poems and their effect on you. Show how they are similar and how they are different.…

    • 993 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the poem “Tableau,” Countee Cullen openly conveys a tone of innocence through his use of metaphors and simile. Cullen goes on through the poem to explain the significant difference yet similarity between the two boys, such as “The black boy and the white, The golden splendor of the day, The sable pride of night.” (lines 2,3 and 4). This suggests the two boys are obviously quite different, but speaks of them as one like Cullen says in line 8, “In unison to walk”. Cullen also displays a sense of unknowingness and innocence by the simile in the third stanza. He starts with “They pass, and see no wonder” (line 10) which obviously shows how these two boys had to no clue that what they were doing was in any way wrong, then he continues with…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another similarity between the two poems is the use of the structure to represent the feelings of the speaker.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cullen’s poem consists of fourteen lines and has a consistent rhyme scheme. While some may not consider it a sonnet, it clearly is similar to one. The first eight lines give it the illusion of a Shakespearean sonnet, while the last six lines are a series of couplets. So while the poem is not any of the basic sonnet forms, its rhyme and set-up are too precise to be called free verse. He purposely made the poem rhyme…

    • 1885 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On main thing both of the poems have in common is that they are both talking about how their parents were. They use a variety of metaphors to suggest what their parents are like. “Gilded finches” and “moon’s eye to me.”…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    english graphic organizer

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What is unique that I have observed is each stanza has exactly eight lines. Yes the poem does rhyme and this allows for the poem to flow smoothly.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although these poem’s share the same style and same meaning the of the poems is vastly different.…

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I found Countee Cullen's poem "From The Dark Tower" to be very interesting. The title itself gave me the impression that the speaker is some type of night watchman who was possibly watching over a field but could have just as well have been a planter who uses the planting and nature terminology to metaphorically relate to life issues. I think the first lines:…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Langston Hughes contributed a tremendous influence on black culture throughout the United States during the era known as the Harlem Renaissance. He is usually considered to be one of the most prolific and most-recognized black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. He broke through barriers that very few black artists had done before this period. Hughes was presented with a great opportunity with the rise black art during the 1920 's and by his creative style of poetry, which used black culture as its basis and still appealed to all ethnicities.…

    • 828 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dubois and the Color Line

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hughes' piece "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" emphasizes the black artist and his creative force. Hughes' believes that black artists should stop imitating white artists, as they will never create anything original, and therefore great, in such a fashion. Instead, the black artist should have pride in himself and his/her heritage, and that pride and history should be the driving force of their creative spirits. "I want to be a poet -- not a Negro poet," was once said to Hughes by a black poet. Hughes saw that as something profoundly disheartening, as he interpreted it as "I want to be a white poet". The racial boundary was (and can still be) difficult to breach. There should be no significance to race whatsoever in one's profession (in this case, a poet). Granted the young poet who said that was saying that he didn't want race to be a factor for him to be looked down upon, Hughes saw the statement as something much more depressing, as no poet has ever been great by being afraid of being him/herself. Hughes' belief lies in the idea that black art can be great in it's own right, and that simply imitating white art solely to be accepted by the white establishment is not enough for any artist.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Langston Hughes Research Paper

    • 25312 Words
    • 102 Pages

    Langston was not ashamed of being a black American. He had already written poems celebrating his heritage. He felt connected to the oppressed "brown" people of the world and hated his father for mistreating his Mexican employees. Witnessing his father's tyranny made Langston sick enough to require hospitalization.…

    • 25312 Words
    • 102 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    American Idealism Analysis

    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Privileged whites in America were still looking down at the blacks and young black poets writing reflects this. Langston Hughes “Let America Be America again”, tells us of the way the blacks wanted to be treated and how each were promised their America when the civil war ended along with slavery. In the poem the lines 31-35 speak of how black were still being treated, “I am the farmer, the bondsman to the soil, I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-Hungry yet today despite the dream”. (Hughes) This speaks of how the black person felt everybody was still being treated and how each one were continually being treated specially during the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. Unfortunately, today blacks are not treated much better and still have to face prejudice. There is a parallel how the blacks were viewed as subservient, much as the soldiers were in Catch-22. Blacks and the soldiers were both told what to do and did not have the freedom to go wherever without fear of punishment. During slavery, plantation owners’ viewed the slaves as property. The slaves that ran away and were caught were whipped. The soldiers who went AWOL were court marshaled. The treatment of blacks still needs to improve and this will not be an…

    • 2001 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Zora Neale Hurston

    • 2006 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Zora Neale Hurston was an astounding Afro-American author who was recognized not for being the first Afro-American writer, but rather for her ability to bring forth her cultural language and imagery. If not for Zora's pioneering effort as a female black writer, the world of modern literature would have never seen the cultural insights of the African American culture in such a candid way.…

    • 2006 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1.02 Poetry

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The word or phrase that was powerful to me was “She walks in beauty, like the night”…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays