Voices of Harlem

706 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: “I, Too” Langston Hughes interpretations

Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen are two famous African American poets of the Harlem Renaissance. They were born a year apart from each other in the early 20th century. Langston Hughes called himself a Black poet and Countee Cullen called himself a Black poet.The difference in the way these two poets describe themselvesis exhibited in the structures, word choices and tones of their poems. Hughes represents common African American life by using authentic blues rhythms and the language of his people. However, Cullen’s poems assimilate into White Western Literature by writing with sophisticated classical English allusions and rhyme schemes.
The structure of the Langston Hughes’s poem “I, too” contrasts with that of Countee Cullen’s poem “Yet Do I Marvel.” Langston Hughes constructed his poems with six stanzas, two of which contains only one line. “I, too”is written in free verse. The poem does not follow regular rhyme scheme or meter pattern. It was written with the rhythm of speech that was natural on the street of Harlem. Countee Cullen’s poem “Yet Do I Marvel” is fourteen lines long. It also follows a regular rhyme scheme which makes it a sonnet. Like traditional sonnets, “Yet Do I Marvel” is written in iambic pentameter, five metrical feet in a row with one of each consists of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. This poem approximates others in the Western Canon.
Langston Hughes uses simple yet meaningful words to writes his poems on the other hand, Countee Cullen uses traditional literary devices to make his poems. Langston Hughes begins his poem with an allusion. First line of the poem “I, too, sing American,” is a literary reference to Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” (1778 Hughes). Langston Hugh...

... middle of paper ...

...eir races.
The speaker of “Yet Do I Marvel” sees God to be too powerful. He thinks God is beyond human intelligence. He is a poet but unfortunately he is made black by God. He thinks of being black as a punishment by God similar to that of Sisyphus and Tantalus. As opposed to the speaker of “I, too,” the speaker of “Yet Do I Marvel” is full of doubts and confusions. He feels suppressed. He sees endless sufferings but he finds no way to escape from it.
Langston Hughes builds his poems with blues rhythms and free verses embracing his culture. Countee Cullen creates his poems simply as a form of art following classical English sonnets and allusions but the sufferings of the African Americans were reflected in his poems. Despite from these differences both Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen are two of the most inspirational literary figures of the Harlem Renaissance

Show More
Related

  • The Voice of the Harlem Renaissance

    1587 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Voice of the Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural revolution that happened mainly in Harlem, New York but also in other parts of America. The Harlem Renaissance took place from 1918 until 1937. The Harlem Renaissance was never about a single entity or event, but the gathering of the best and brightest minds around the Americas. These great minds helped create one of the biggest cultural movements in American history. The work contributed during the renaissance helped future African American artists in the future.

    Read More

  • How Does Langston Hughes Use Strength In Mother To Son

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes wrote during a very critical time in American History, the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes wrote many poems, but most of his most captivating works centered around women and power that they hold. They also targeted light and darkness and strength. The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Mother to Son, both explain the importance of the woman, light and darkness and strength in the African-American community. They both go about it in different ways.

    Read More

  • Comparing Langston Hughes And Walt Whitman

    209 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "Langston Hughes and the "Other" Whitman", George Hutchinson summarizes the similarities between Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Although Walt Whitman wrote during the American Antebellum Era and Hughes wrote during the Harlem Renaissance, both used their works to advocate for African Americans. Hughes greatly admired Whitman and felt that he had been ignored and underappreciated as a writer. Hughes’ admiration and respect for Whitman allowed him to develop his own unique style of writing and encouraged him to be a voice for those living in Harlem. Analyzing Whitman’s poetry enabled Hughes to find ways to incorporate aspects of Jazz and Blues into his poetry. Whitman and Hughes both integrated their opinions into their poetry and used

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    1572 Words  | 4 Pages

    Occurring in the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance was an important movement for African-Americans all across America. This movement allowed the black culture to be heard and accepted by white citizens. The movement was expressed through art, music, and literature. These things were also the most known, and remembered things of the renaissance. Also this movement, because of some very strong, moving and inspiring people changed political views for African-Americans. Compared to before, The Harlem Renaissance had major effects on America during and after its time.

    Read More

  • Countee Cullen

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    Countee Cullen was a prominent American poet and was known as the “poster poet” of the 1920 artistic movement called the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance produced the first African American works of literature in the United States. There were many leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance such as James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman and Arna Bontemps.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance, originally known as “the New Negro Movement”, was a cultural, social, and artistic movement during the 1920’s that took place in Harlem. This movement occurred after the World War I and drew in many African Americans who wanted to escape from the South to the North where they could freely express their artistic abilities. This movement was known as The Great Migration. During the 1920’s, many black writers, singers, musicians, artists, and poets gained success including Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey, and W.E.B. Du Bois. These creative black artists made an influence to society in the 1920’s and an impact on the Harlem Renaissance.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On The Harlem Renaissance

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    The New Negro Movement, widely known as The Harlem Renaissance, rolled into Harlem, New York – and touched the whole of America – like a gale-force wind. As every part of America reveled in the prosperity and gaiety of the decade, African Americans used the decade as a stepping stone for future generations. With the New Negro Movement came an abundance of black artistic, cultural, and intellectual stimulation. Literary achievers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen rocked the world with their immense talent and strove to show that African Americans should be respected. Musicians, dancers, and singers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker and Bessie Smith preformed for whites and blacks alike in famed speakeasies like The Cotton Club. Intellectuals like Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, and Alain Locke stood to empower and unify colored people of all ages. The Harlem Renaissance was not just a moment in time; it was a movement of empowerment for African Americans across the nation, and remains as such today.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes's I, Too and Countee Cullen's Incident

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hughes, Langston “I, Too.” Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler.

    Read More

  • American Dream By Langston Hughes

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes is considered one of the greatest African American poets to live in the last century. Langston Hughes wrote poems over oppression from 1926-1964, he wrote many poems, jazzes, blues, and spirituals. Langston Hughes uses America as symbolism to represent that America represents more than a country and it represents “The American Dream” and freedom.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.

    Read More

  • The Negro Speaks Of Blues Analysis

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    The four poems by Langston Hughes, “Negro,” “Harlem,” “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and “Theme for English B” are all powerful poems and moving poems! Taken all together they speak to the very founding of relations of whites and blacks all the way down through history. The speaker in the poem the, “Negro” and also, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” tells the tale of freedom and enslavement that his people have endured, and it heralds their wisdom and strength. The poems “Harlem” and “Theme for English B” speaks to the continuous unfair treatment that the blacks have received at the hands of white people throughout the years.

    Read More

  • Biography of Langston Hughes

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes was probably the most well-known literary force during the Harlem Renaissance. He was one of the first known black artists to stress a need for his contemporaries to embrace the black jazz culture of the 1920s, as well as the cultural roots in Africa and not-so-distant memory of enslavement in the United States. In formal aspects, Hughes was innovative in that other writers of the Harlem Renaissance stuck with existing literary conventions, while Hughes wrote several poems and stories inspired by the improvised, oral traditions of black culture (Baym, 2221). Proud of his cultural identity, but saddened and angry about racial injustice, the content of much of Hughes’ work is filled with conflict between simply doing as one is told as a black member of society and standing up for injustice and being proud of one’s identity. This relates to a common theme in many of Hughes’ poems: that dignity is something that has to be fought for by those who are held back by segregation, poverty, and racial bigotry.

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 20th century a unique awakening of mind and spirit, of race consciousness, and

    Read More

  • The Harlem Renaissance

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Harlem Renaissance refers to a prolific period of unique works of African-American expression from about the end of World War I to the beginning of the Great Depression. Although it is most commonly associated with the literary works produced during those years, the Harlem Renaissance was much more than a literary movement; similarly, it was not simply a reaction against and criticism of racism. The Harlem Renaissance inspired, cultivated, and, most importantly, legitimated the very idea of an African-American cultural consciousness. Concerned with a wide range of issues and possessing different interpretations and solutions of these issues affecting the Black population, the writers, artists, performers and musicians of the Harlem Renaissance had one important commonality: "they dealt with Black life from a Black perspective." This included the use of Black folklore in fiction, the use of African-inspired iconography in visual arts, and the introduction of jazz to the North.[i] In order to fully understand the lasting legacies of the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to examine the key events that led to its beginnings as well as the diversity of influences that flourished during its time.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Poetry of Lanston Hughes and Countee Cullen

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    During this era African Americans were facing the challenges of accepting their heritage or ignoring outright to claim a different lifestyle for their day to day lives. Hughes and Cullen wrote poems that seemed to describe themselves, or African Americans, who had accepted their African Heritage and who also wanted to be a part of American heritage as well. These are some of the things they have in common, as well as what is different about them based on appearance, now I shall focus on each author individually and talk about how they are different afterwards.

    Read More

More about Voices of Harlem

Open Document