Analysis Of Fruit Of The Flower By Countee Cullen

In the poem, “Mother to Son” harlem renaissance Langston Hughes writes of a mother’s heartbreaking journey through a never ending cycle of life through the use of figurative language and complex structure. The reader is able to fully receive the message the author has provided.

This poem is titled “Heritage” and is by Countee Cullen (for Harold Jackman). The social issue that motivated Cullen to write Heritage is the oppression that blacks faced and their eagerness to go back to the place that their ancestors were taken from. In the poem Cullen reflects the urge to reclaim the African arts, during this time, the Harlem Renaissance, blacks called this movement negritude. Cullen depicts the negro speaking on the view of Africa, by the all negroes. In the poem, Cullen uses auditory imagery, organic imagery, and visual imagery.

Her rap is peppered with ain’t gots and don’t have nones and Ii done beens and she be’s and he be’s the way mine is when we are sweet color among coloreds and don't have to worry about being graded. I see no shame in this” (p 276-277). Smith says this to persuade us that the history in her mother’s voice should not have shame behind it. She uses the terms colored to show us what time frame her mother grew up in and is apart of her that she passes down to her, something respectable. Her mother wants, “ to wash history from her throat, to talk like a woman who got some sense and future, to talk English instead of talking wrong” (p 277). The views of how she sees her mother and how her mother views herself are different but comparable because of who it is coming from, mother and daughter. Only Patrica Smith knows her mother in the reading to form an accurate opinion and view for the readers to

The sentiment and purpose behind Trethewey’s poem, her sonnets, is how we truly understand the history behind these events, how we feel about the lives of African Americans. We understand the speaker because we know his story, about the solders, the war, etc. The significance is the same as when we read up on our history; it gives us the chance to learn more about the lives of other people: how they died, how they changed history. We even try to unearth forgotten history which intends on provide us more about what we don’t know. The lines on page 26 in the book, I believe, is what I have said before not just from what I’ve read from Trethewey’s book but in other books, other stories with historical events. Like the speaker, like Trethewey, like everyone around us; we write about our lives to resurrect the memory of those who’ve died and were forgotten, thus having impact on our lives and our feelings. Whites barely had respect to African Americans in the past or barely in the present, but that is because there is more about them that we don’t know about. All we know is what we know about them now, which could lead us to be doomed by our own history unless we can connect with African Americans more; read more stories and poetry that connect to

Countee Cullen was man who struggled to be called a “poet” instead of a “Negro poet.”  His life during the Harlem Renaissance was filled with inequality and prejudice.  These facts have lead many analysts to perceive his poem “Any Human to Another” as a cry for racial equality.  However, Cullen’s manipulation of structure, imagery, and symbols in the poem reveals that his true theme is that all humans are individually unique but must live together in harmony and equality, caring for and helping each other.

This poem focuses on the lynching of a African American male. The speaker of the poem appears to console a woman who appears to be distressed due to the events taking place. In the first four lines of stanza 1, the speaker says:

In Hughes’ poem, “Mother to son,” a mother explains to her son how her life was never easy. She tells her son that even though she has come across many hardships, she kept on pushing. The mother advises her son to never turn back, no matter how hard the obstacle is to overcome because she hasn’t given up in her old age. This poem is a free verse written in the vernacular. “The Little Black Boy” by William Blake is about a black child telling the story of how he began to find himself and know God. He explains how his skin is black and his soul is white as that of an English child. His mother introduces him to God who lives in the East and gives light and life to all creation, and comfort and joy to men. The mother in this poem is a loving character who wants the best for her child. The little black boy passes on

He explains, “I was only an American Negro—who had loved the surface of Africa—but I was not Africa. I was Chicago and Kansas City and Broadway and Harlem. I was not what she wanted me to be” (Hughes as quoted in Cobb 44). Hughes wants to make sure people are aware that the life and culture of African Americans differ drastically from the romantic view of the Negro in Africa. In his poem “Mother to Son,” Hughes provides the story of struggle, poverty overcame by hard work, and hope for a more dignified life for the entire African American people (Niemi 1). Hughes recognizes that despite being oppressed, the black community is strong enough to empower itself with determination to succeed. When discussing working-class life, Hughes consistently “asserts blacks as fully complex, fully human, and equals in the American democratic experiment” and does not play into the thought that blacks should be kept down (Sanders 107). Langston Hughes’ “concern for the lives and oppression of poor and working-class blacks” is apparent in most of his work (Sanders 107). Through his writing he makes the population aware of the deep-set oppression put upon the black community.

Countee Cullen and his poem “Yet Do I Marvel” talks about the relationship between God and man but the main point of the poem is his position in the world as a being black and being a black poet. His skin color is placed

Notice how Brooks ties together “we” and “things” therefore suggesting that the speaker considers herself and the others living with her as objects opposed to humans. Contrary to the segregation occurring within diverse races at the time, the speaker integrates all those whom she shares a home with, creating a sense of community. The speaker of the poem doesn’t exclude anyone but it is known that they are all African-American. Gwendolyn Brooks includes a hidden repetition in this poem as well, that is the idea of a “dream”. The word “dream” is presented in the first stanza, in the second line, “‘Dream’ makes a giddy sound”, there is a reference back to this dream throughout the rest of the poem such as in the third stanza, “ Even if we were willing to let it in, Had time to warm it, keep it very clean” (8-9). It was intended for the reader to recognize the emphasis on the “dream” which would allow the reader to become aware of the unjust treatment African-Americans were going through. Recognizing that these people didn’t even want to allow themselves to “let in” their dreams and hopes only raised the concern and recognition of the dreadful reality African-Americans had to endure at this time.

The great philosopher Plato once orated: “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. PBS defines the the Harlem Renaissance a “Cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem between the end of World War I and the middle of the 1930s. During this period Harlem was a cultural center, drawing black writers, artists, musicians, photographers, poets, and scholars.” Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”Authors such as Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, and Colleen McElroy explore their cultural heritage through hard-hitting poetry.

In Helene Johnson’s poem, “Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem,” she talks about a Negro man during the Harlem Renaissance struggling to find a place of recognition, identity, appreciation for his existence, and his potential difference during the 1920s and ‘30s from white America, (p1370). Johnson’s starts her poem with, “You are disdainful and magnificent, / Your perfect body and your pompous gait.” In this stanza, Johnson belittles the Negro man in Harlem by saying that he is “magnificent” and proud but a “pompous gait,” (p1370). Which means that he has swagger and gravitas, but pompous. She feels that the Negro man living in Harlem is disdainful and incompetent. He only understands the Harlem environment and no tolerance for other cultures. Although, he wants to be like white people, “Your dark eyes flashing solemnly with hate, / “Small wonder that you are incompetent, /To imitate those whom, you so despise,” (p1371).

In the poem she says “I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide”, and “I am the dream and the hope of the slave”. She is saying that because she is black woman and has to face problems; it has made her stronger. She has risen above and has become the person the slaves had hoped to become one day. Just because she is a minority doesn’t mean she can’t be proud of her accomplishments.

In “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, Alice Walker looks to educate us on the hardships that almost all black women face when trying to express themselves through things such as art. She delves into many sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history. These concepts and ideologies created a realm for mass exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of many African American women, including Alice Walker’s Mother, who Alice utilizes as one of her particular examples. The writing thematically aims to show how these concepts of sexism, racism, and even classism have contributed to black women’s lack of individuality, optimism, and fulfillment for generations. The author does a tremendous job of defending and expanding upon her arguments. She has a credible background, being a black woman that produces the art of literature herself. As well as being raised by one, Walker’s first-hand experience warrants high regard. Therefore, her use of abstract and introspective language is presented clearly and convincingly. Also, her use of evidence and support from sources like Jean Toomer, Virginia Woolf, and Phillis Wheatley, all produce more validity for her stance through poems, quotes, and even experiences. All these individuals have their own accounts pertaining to the oppression of black women and their individuality. Successfully arguing that the artistry plights of black women described in “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” are

The speaker in the “The Negro Mother” is an African American woman who makes a promise to her children that she will be with them always in spirit as they fight for the same rights as whites. She says, “For I will be with you till no white brother / Dares keep down the children of the Negro Mother” (49-50). She wanted her children to fight for equal rights regardless of the barriers and