Thursday, June 18, 2009

Countee Cullen and The Harlem Renaissance


The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, was the major African American cultural and intellectual movement that flourished in the 1920s and early 30s and began to fade once the Great Depression hit. The movement was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City but influenced the entire country. It is recognized as a period characterized by African-American achievements in art, music, and literature. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that publishers, critics, and the general public began taking African American literature seriously. It was predominantly identified as a literary movement but African American music, theater, art, and politics were also new developments of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance materialized toward the end of the First World War for many reasons. During the turn of the century, a black middle class emerged as a result of increased education and employment opportunities for African Americans. Additionally, the movement known as the Great Migration also influenced the Harlem Renaissance. During this time, thousands of black Americans moved from the rural South to the industrial cities of the North. Harlem was one of the neighborhoods that developed as a result of the Great Migration and it quickly became the political and cultural center of black America. New trends in American society also contributed to this cultural phenomenon. New attitudes about experimentation, racial equality, combined with an increase of radical black intellectuals and new political agendas against the discrimination of blacks in the U.S. all contributed to the movement.


Some of the most famous writers of the Harlem Renaissance include Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston and Jessie Fauset. These writers reflected the idea of a transformation from the “Old Negro” to the “New Negro.”. The New Negro was proud and challenged racism and the stereotypes that existed through their intellect and their production of literature, art, music, etc. These writers shared the common goal of developing innovative ways and forms of artistic representation of the African American experience. They explored and expressed the experiences of black America and life in the urban North. They celebrated their creativity, their race, their culture, and their freedom to express themselves in a new way that epitomized their black identities. At the same time, however, they did have a wide range of racially diverse concepts of blackness. And even though all of these writers were black, the Harlem Renaissance did mean different things to each of them and they all had unique ways of expressing their own black identity and personal experience.


Countee Cullen was one of the most acclaimed poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Many of Cullen’s works reflected the African and African American themes of the movement. In Color, race is a major theme. Nearly one-third of the poems in this volume have references to race. After reading many of Cullen’s poems, the theme of race consciousness is clear. Critics believe that some of Cullen’s best expressions of race consciousness come from his sonnets. As I previously discussed, “Yet Do I Marvel,” is a prime example of this. Race is another theme in Cullen’s “The Dark Tower.” In this poem, Cullen describes the inferiority of blacks in America. He expresses his belief that there is enough room for both blacks and whites in the world. Many of Cullen’s works also reflect the racial pride that was an important characteristic of the Harlem Renaissance. For example, “A Song of Praise,” addresses the beauty of black women. Cullen even hints at the idea that black women are more desirable than white women. Additionally, a common discussion in several of Cullen’s poems was Africa. He discussed the relationship between blacks and Africa, as well as using Africa as a symbol of many things. “Heritage” is an example of this. Cullen opens with a question of what Africa means to him, being that he is three centuries removed from that part of his heritage. “Tableau” is one of my favorite poems by Cullen. It looks into how race affects children versus adults.
Locked arm in arm they cross the way,
The black boy and the white,
The golden splendor of the day,
The sable pride of night.
From lowered blinds the dark folk stare,
And here the fair folk talk,
Indignant that these two should dare
In unison to walk.

To Cullen, children are innocent and have not been influenced by society’s racism and stereotypes. However, adults have been conditioned by society that interracial friendships are not acceptable and they cannot believe that the little black boy and white boy are walking together in unison. Cullen’s “Incident” is another poem with race as its theme. Cullen provides us with a story from his past. He spent time in Baltimore as a child and out of all the experiences and things he could remember, he only remembers one. He only remembers trying to befriend a white boy and the boy calling him a “nigger.” This is a clear example of how race affected Cullen. Cullen fit into this movement because much of his work reflected the common theme of race and the black experience that characterized the Harlem Renaissance.

However, at the same time, Cullen was different from many of the Harlem Renaissance writers because he wrote more conventionally. Although much of his subject matter focused on the black experience, his poetry mirrored the English-language literary tradition. Cullen believed that African American writers should study and follow the traditions of English verse. He wrote many sonnets in the British romantic style. In this way, Cullen was similar to Claude McKay’s style. They both expressed African American ideas in traditional standard English poetry.

This made him different than several other Harlem Renaissance writers. Hughes, Hurston, Toomer and others focused more on the folk tradition to create their unique literary forms and styles. Hughes was known for creating rhythmic literary experiments in everyday black English. Furthermore, Cullen differed from his contemporaries by rejecting a poetic identification solely with African Americans. Cullen didn’t necessarily deny his racial background, but he did emphasize his right to create subjects that didn’t overtly deal with race. Cullen understood that he was black, but he did not want to be recognized as only a “black poet.” He did not want to be solely defined by his race. Instead, Cullen wanted to be known as an American poet. Some scholars say that Cullen considered poetry “raceless.”

Additionally, Cullen criticized Hughes for his “jazz-like poems,” claiming that they were not “true poetry.” Cullen believed that Hughes’ poetry had too much emphasis on strictly black themes. Cullen critiqued Hughes because he had a different perspective about the way literature should be expressed. And Hughes criticized Cullen as well. He criticized Cullen’s style and his loyalty to the English tradition when expressing the black experience. Hughes claimed that Cullen was not being creative or bold enough in expressing the black experience in America. In general, Cullen’s work stems from the tradition of classical English poetry, while Hughes focused on the lives and rhythms of common folk in America.

Cullen had a profound effect on the Harlem Renaissance movement. As much as the Harlem Renaissance gave him, he gave to the movement as well. Cullen shared in the common goal of many of the movement’s writers and artists, but he did it in a unique way. Cullen added a different perspective to the movement through his traditional style. Through this style, he expressed a new idea. This new idea was that poetry of the Harlem Renaissance did not have to simply be defined by race. His desire to be known as an American poet, instead of simply a black poet reflected this idea. He left a lasting legacy and idea, through his poetry, that he did not have to be confined to only racial themes. He could express universal themes as well and do it in a conventional style. Cullen provided a different outlook that was unlike most Harlem Renaissance writers. He also provided the movement with formal, traditional poetry that encompassed not only racial themes, but also universal themes that could appeal to everyone.

Finkleman, Paul and Cary D. Wintz. 2004. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Volume 1). New York: Routledge.


Reimherr, Beulah. "Race Consciousness in Countee Cullen's Poetry." Susquehanna University Studies. 7.2 (June 1963): 65-82. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Carol T. Gaffke. Vol. 20. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 65-82. Literature Resource Center. Gale. EAST LANSING PUBLIC LIBRARY. 18 June 2009 https://webmail.sbu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC%26u=east43610.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA03/faturoti/harlem/collage/artistic.html

http://www.42explore2.com/harlem.htm

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