When discussing essential movements within American poetry, the conversation would be incomplete without mentioning the Harlem Renaissance. Through its lyrical influence of blues and jazz, many writers at this time inspired African Americans to stand up for equal rights within society. The Harlem Renaissance, which was based in Harlem, New York, was an outburst of African American artistic creativity during the 1920s. The movement took place during the time of the Great Migration, in which African Americans moved from the rural south to the urban north. This dramatically affected African Americans by inspiring artistic innovations, improving socioeconomic status, and ultimately creating a sense of pride within the race. The movement was centered
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Gwendolyn Brooks is an American poet in the mid 1900s who focused her writing around her personal life, social and racial issues, political justice, and her community. Mrs. Brooks once said, "I wrote about what I saw and heard in the street.” She frequently used her community to inspire her work. Brooks was a highly regarded poet who distinguished herself by being the first African American to win the Pulitzer prize for her book of poetry “Annie Allen” in 1950. “Annie Allen” details the story of a black woman’s journey from childhood to adulthood, while fighting poverty and discrimination in her neighborhood. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, but moved to Chicago when she was very young. Her father worked as a janitor and her mother was a schoolteacher and a classical pianist. Her parents were always very supportive of her passion for writing and encouraged her to start writing at a very young age. In fact, by the time she was 13 years old she published her very first poem, “Eventide”; by the age of 17 she was publishing poems frequently in the Chicago Defender, a local newspaper centered around the black community. According to the Poetry Foundation, “After such formative experiences as attending junior college and working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, she developed her craft in poetry workshops and began writing... focusing on urban blacks, that would be …show more content…
Modernism broke off from classical types of art and established new and unique styles. People were no longer constricted to the standard art forms of the past. Instead, artists took it upon themselves to question societal beliefs and revoke old ways of writing. Writers, such as T.S Eliot and James Joyce, used stream-of-consciousness as a contemporary writing technique in the modern era. According to the webster-merriam dictionary, “stream-of-consciousness is a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue.” In one of Prufrock's most famous poems,“The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the speaker takes the reader for a long walk down a dark and foggy path. The speaker seems to be indecisive and nervous to express himself; he is also depressed that women keep entering and leaving his life. Prufrock States, “And indeed there will be time/ to wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”/Time to turn back and descend the stair,/ With a bald spot in the middle of my hair/For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse”(6.1-5.NP). Prufrock uses stream-of-consciousness to explain the insecure state of the speaker in the poem. As a result of literature like this, the
Gwendolyn Brooks is an American poet in the mid 1900s who focused her writing around her personal life, social and racial issues, political justice, and her community. Mrs. Brooks once said, "I wrote about what I saw and heard in the street.” She frequently used her community to inspire her work. Brooks was a highly regarded poet who distinguished herself by being the first African American to win the Pulitzer prize for her book of poetry “Annie Allen” in 1950. “Annie Allen” details the story of a black woman’s journey from childhood to adulthood, while fighting poverty and discrimination in her neighborhood. Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, but moved to Chicago when she was very young. Her father worked as a janitor and her mother was a schoolteacher and a classical pianist. Her parents were always very supportive of her passion for writing and encouraged her to start writing at a very young age. In fact, by the time she was 13 years old she published her very first poem, “Eventide”; by the age of 17 she was publishing poems frequently in the Chicago Defender, a local newspaper centered around the black community. According to the Poetry Foundation, “After such formative experiences as attending junior college and working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, she developed her craft in poetry workshops and began writing... focusing on urban blacks, that would be …show more content…
Modernism broke off from classical types of art and established new and unique styles. People were no longer constricted to the standard art forms of the past. Instead, artists took it upon themselves to question societal beliefs and revoke old ways of writing. Writers, such as T.S Eliot and James Joyce, used stream-of-consciousness as a contemporary writing technique in the modern era. According to the webster-merriam dictionary, “stream-of-consciousness is a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue.” In one of Prufrock's most famous poems,“The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the speaker takes the reader for a long walk down a dark and foggy path. The speaker seems to be indecisive and nervous to express himself; he is also depressed that women keep entering and leaving his life. Prufrock States, “And indeed there will be time/ to wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”/Time to turn back and descend the stair,/ With a bald spot in the middle of my hair/For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse”(6.1-5.NP). Prufrock uses stream-of-consciousness to explain the insecure state of the speaker in the poem. As a result of literature like this, the