James Weldon Johnson's The Creation

James Weldon Johnson is an American poet who represented the African-American community through his works. Born on June 17, 1871 in Florida, Johnson was raised by his parents, James Johnson and Helen Louise Dillet. His mother, a school teacher, encouraged Johnson to study English literature; James later attended Atlanta University to pursue his interest in the English language and its written creations. It was during his college years that he realized the serious racial problem in the United States. After school, Johnson was a civil rights activist and took part in Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential campaign. After his success, Roosevelt chose Johnson as the United States consul of Venezuela and Nicaragua. When Johnson returned, he continued his career with writing, producing successful poetry. However, James Weldon Johnson was not only a poet, but the national organizer for the NAACP. Through his support for his people and his written works, Johnson became a key leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He brought realism to Black literature and wanted to bring more attention to the South, where racism was predominant. …show more content…
This set of poems follows a traditional African-American religious style and is written in a third person perspective. “The Creation” is the first of the seven poems, and it retells the famous Bible story of God’s creation by describing each step of the process. The poem starts with God being lonely, and gradually creates life on earth to keep him company. Johnson uses parallelism throughout his poem, starting many of his lines with “And…” repeatedly. He also uses personification, “The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky/And the oak spread out his arms” (44-45) to create imagery. The dialogue of God shows Southern dialect of Johnson’s