“Any Human To Another” Analysis
During the Harlem Renaissance, writers used their vast creativity and their influential platforms to introduce an empowered and independent African American persona to the rest of the world. The arts were used to communicate new ideas and foster an unflinching determination to achieve societal amelioration. Drawing great influence from both Reverend Frederick A. Cullen, his foster father and the president of the Harlem chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and his primarily white formal education, Countee Cullen became an untiring advocate of social reform through the arts. He aimed to “to free himself and his art from [the] bonds” (Poetry Foundation) of “racial limitations” …show more content…
His poem in itself is “diverse yet single” (Line 11). The utilization of varying meter and rhyme scheme prove that diversification only adds to the splendor of the piece and ultimately adds to the magnificence of the human experience. It does not strip life of its merit. “Any Human to Another” is devised of five stanzas. The first and second stanzas are six lines long, the third and fifth contain seven lines, and the fourth stanza is made up of just five lines. The rhyme scheme is as follows: ABCCAB, AABCCB, ABABCCD, ABABB, and ABCDCBD. Stanzas of different lengths and verses with different sonic patterns come together to compose this poignant lyrical poem. Symbolic of the beauty of diversity, the mismatched nature of each stanza to one another keeps the poem engaging. If the entire poem followed the exact same scheme and each stanza was identical, the poem would be soulless. Likewise, if the world lacked diversity, culture would never progress. However, this writing style was not different for him; Cullen was known to follow nonconformist writing techniques. He wrote numerous “‘white’ verse-ballads, sonnets, quatrains, and the like--much in the manner of Keats and the British Romantics” (Modern American Poetry), unlike anything ever seen before. He embraced both cultures and incorporates them within his passion. Furthermore, “Any Human to Another” lacks the jazz …show more content…
He states that all people, despite the color of their skin, essentially are the same, as emotions like pain and sorrow are universally felt. Because he craved the creation of a world where the color of one’s skin would be rightfully seen for what it is, merely a trivial matter, Cullen worked incessantly to use the power of his words to achieve fair treatment for
During the Harlem Renaissance, writers used their vast creativity and their influential platforms to introduce an empowered and independent African American persona to the rest of the world. The arts were used to communicate new ideas and foster an unflinching determination to achieve societal amelioration. Drawing great influence from both Reverend Frederick A. Cullen, his foster father and the president of the Harlem chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and his primarily white formal education, Countee Cullen became an untiring advocate of social reform through the arts. He aimed to “to free himself and his art from [the] bonds” (Poetry Foundation) of “racial limitations” …show more content…
His poem in itself is “diverse yet single” (Line 11). The utilization of varying meter and rhyme scheme prove that diversification only adds to the splendor of the piece and ultimately adds to the magnificence of the human experience. It does not strip life of its merit. “Any Human to Another” is devised of five stanzas. The first and second stanzas are six lines long, the third and fifth contain seven lines, and the fourth stanza is made up of just five lines. The rhyme scheme is as follows: ABCCAB, AABCCB, ABABCCD, ABABB, and ABCDCBD. Stanzas of different lengths and verses with different sonic patterns come together to compose this poignant lyrical poem. Symbolic of the beauty of diversity, the mismatched nature of each stanza to one another keeps the poem engaging. If the entire poem followed the exact same scheme and each stanza was identical, the poem would be soulless. Likewise, if the world lacked diversity, culture would never progress. However, this writing style was not different for him; Cullen was known to follow nonconformist writing techniques. He wrote numerous “‘white’ verse-ballads, sonnets, quatrains, and the like--much in the manner of Keats and the British Romantics” (Modern American Poetry), unlike anything ever seen before. He embraced both cultures and incorporates them within his passion. Furthermore, “Any Human to Another” lacks the jazz …show more content…
He states that all people, despite the color of their skin, essentially are the same, as emotions like pain and sorrow are universally felt. Because he craved the creation of a world where the color of one’s skin would be rightfully seen for what it is, merely a trivial matter, Cullen worked incessantly to use the power of his words to achieve fair treatment for