Heritage Countee Cullen Summary

Similar to many of his fellow Black poets, Countee Cullen’s writings were motivated by the oppression he faced in America and the earnest thoughts of returning to the home of his ancestors: Africa. In “Heritage,” Cullen using imagery to reflect on reclaiming African culture. In the final stanzas, the speaker is in a spiritual conflict with his view of Christianity and the mainstream version of Christianity, and I believe the line “Quench my pride and cool my blood,” stresses that the speaker is an anxious state of pride that is about to to overflow. The speaker, who writes about Christianity throughout the poem, and even compares Jesus Christ to black folk in suffering and concern for justice, is in a personal dilemma; he must figure out …show more content…
He concludes that he is indeed living a “double life” with love for his blackness and his wild state, and the final stanza reiterates that leading a “double life” is indeed hazardous to one who has deep desires. Ultimately, Cullen clearly articulates in “Heritage” that he has deep ethnic pride but at the same time, his ethnicity clashes with his American-Christian self. Thus, he must find the balance between both identities because it seems to be eating him up on the inside.

The Harlem Renaissance was a time of Black, artistic expression in the communities of Harlem. From music to literature, creatives intersected their talents to share their personal and unique stories about life as a Black person in the United States. Poets Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes contributed their poetic skills to provide new interpretations of old genres. Toomer took a more traditional approach to highlighting his experiences as black man from the South; whereas Hughes separates himself from the past and develops a unique voice to represent black culture through the incorporation of blues and jazz themes, experimentation with colloquial language, and Afro-centric images. His poetry shows that he was connected to the