Comparing The Poetry Of Langston Hughes And Countee Cullen

Starting in about 1890, African Americans migrated from the south in large numbers. This Great Migration eventually relocated hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. By 1920, some 300,000 African Americans from the South had moved north, and Harlem was one of the most popular destinations for these families. New economic opportunities led them to create their own culture. This movement is known as the Harlem Renaissance, sometimes referred to as “The New Negro Movement”. This period was considered a golden age in African American culture. The Harlem Renaissance was a time where the African American people were able to express themselves through many different art forms. Among these art forms were music, dance, and poetry. Among these poets were, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. During this period, African Americans were trying to find their own heritage because for so many years they had none. They wanted to have a voice in the white American dominated society. Poets such as Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes wrote about similar themes. While doing so, they demonstrated a new form of poetic expression. Although, they wrote about similar things their styles were different.

Countee Cullen’s poem, Heritage, was a poem about how African Americans should embrace their African roots. Even if you have never been to Africa you should still have African pride. However, in the poem Cullen seemed to be uncertain of his roots because he had never stepped foot in Africa. He only heard stories or read about it in books. Therefore, the poem begins with, “What is Africa to me”, this is a question posed by many people of that time. Therefore, the Harlem Renaissance was so important because it gave the “African Americans their own culture. That they created not what was given to them by their slave owners years