Harlem Renaissance Notes PDF

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Summary

Course topic: Introduction to Literary Studies
Professor Kathy Knapp...

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I’m going to go ahead and be boring and agree with all of you guys, it’s undeniable that identity is a common thread that runs deep within the meaning and the history of these poems. The Harlem Renaissance gave voice to a people that typically went unheard and unseen - many of the works originating from this period and even the poems we read today have that directness and tenacity infused within them. Consider Hughes’ “I, Too”. “They send me to eat in the kitchen/When company comes… “ he states so boldly at the poem’s beginning; he cites an act that’s so seemingly inconsequential but that is representative of generations of forced isolation and alienation, of exile and of helplessness. But he is quick to follow with a strong assertion: “Tomorrow,/I’ll be at the table/When company comes. Nobody’ll dare/Say to me ‘Eat in the kitchen,’/Then.” His tone is so assertive and strong; he is sure of himself and the enjambment of his lines and the breaking up of his sentences emphasizes the power behind each word. To me, each of these poems demands to be heard, and I think that their voice rings clear, a commanding voice instead of a voice of defeat. I feel like this literature was a means of reclaiming an entire culture and an identity in a way. I also like the idea of “two-ness” that Liam touched upon; being an American and being an African American are so clearly not synonymous in any of these poems, reinforcing W.E.B. Du Bois’ belief that the two identities are “two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder”. These words hold a lot of power. It seems to me like in each of these poems, the author is toying with the idea of being caught between two separate selves, two identities which you try to marry but are so clearly opposite that your culture and your society protests against it. “Theme for English B” perhaps states this notion most obviously: “Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me./Nor do I often want to be a part of you./But we are, that’s true!” These lines introduce the idea that the acceptance that comes with being an American may not be welcomed with open arms on either side; there are past transgressions and current inequalities that make the adoption of such a title less seamless than one would imagine. “Although you’re older - and white -/and somewhat more free”. Here we’re reminded that the label of “American” doesn’t grant the same benefits to each person who bears it - the sense of inequality keeps that separation, unfortunately, alive. I think this was something that the authors and artists of the time didn’t want to keep swept under the rug....