Prompt 1: Comparison between the Three Harlem Renaissance Poets
In the early 1920’s, the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, took place when the African Americans began migrating in the Harlem, New York City which became the cultural center for African American art, music and literature. African American poets such as Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes became well-known for their general themes of cultural pride, as well as their discontent on the conditions of the African American community.
Countee Cullen’s “Any Human to Another” describes the despair of African Americans during the early twentieth century with a solemn eloquence. In his poem, the structure is irregular, as well as the rhyme scheme. Moreover, some …show more content…
When he states that “your grief and mine intertwine like sea and river,” he drives home the point that all of our sorrows are shared. “Let no man be so proud /And confident, /To think he is allowed /A little tent/Pitched in a meadow /Of sun and shadow/All his little own.” In this stanza, he made use of symbolism where the tent represents as the isolation that all African Americans felt during that time. He wants to convey a message that no person is isolated from the sorrows of others. In one way or another, someone else’s suffering will always have an effect regardless. Furthermore, in the following stanza, he made use of personification to give the feeling of joy, the human …show more content…
This poem is a sonnet, using a formal structure and rhyme scheme. McKay explores the theme of alienation, presenting African Americans as outsiders and outcasts. His word choice and passionate expressions created a style all his own. The mood here is dark, lost, and defeated like in this lines from his poem, “Something in me is lost, forever lost, /Some vital thing has gone out of my heart.” It’s evident in McKay’s poem as he struggles to balance his African ancestry with the modern Western world he wakes up to every day. Finally, one of the prominent poets of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, displayed a positive theme in his famous work, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” He made use of the rivers in the poem as a symbol for the diverse experiences of the Africans throughout history. “I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. /I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. /I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. /I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.” In this stanza, the parallel structure with the verbs made created rhythm, as well as it gave off the feeling of endlessness and strength. Furthermore, Hughes’s use of
In the early 1920’s, the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance, took place when the African Americans began migrating in the Harlem, New York City which became the cultural center for African American art, music and literature. African American poets such as Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes became well-known for their general themes of cultural pride, as well as their discontent on the conditions of the African American community.
Countee Cullen’s “Any Human to Another” describes the despair of African Americans during the early twentieth century with a solemn eloquence. In his poem, the structure is irregular, as well as the rhyme scheme. Moreover, some …show more content…
When he states that “your grief and mine intertwine like sea and river,” he drives home the point that all of our sorrows are shared. “Let no man be so proud /And confident, /To think he is allowed /A little tent/Pitched in a meadow /Of sun and shadow/All his little own.” In this stanza, he made use of symbolism where the tent represents as the isolation that all African Americans felt during that time. He wants to convey a message that no person is isolated from the sorrows of others. In one way or another, someone else’s suffering will always have an effect regardless. Furthermore, in the following stanza, he made use of personification to give the feeling of joy, the human …show more content…
This poem is a sonnet, using a formal structure and rhyme scheme. McKay explores the theme of alienation, presenting African Americans as outsiders and outcasts. His word choice and passionate expressions created a style all his own. The mood here is dark, lost, and defeated like in this lines from his poem, “Something in me is lost, forever lost, /Some vital thing has gone out of my heart.” It’s evident in McKay’s poem as he struggles to balance his African ancestry with the modern Western world he wakes up to every day. Finally, one of the prominent poets of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, displayed a positive theme in his famous work, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” He made use of the rivers in the poem as a symbol for the diverse experiences of the Africans throughout history. “I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. /I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. /I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. /I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.” In this stanza, the parallel structure with the verbs made created rhythm, as well as it gave off the feeling of endlessness and strength. Furthermore, Hughes’s use of