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Countee Cullen. Biography . “New Negro” “Poet” – not a “black poet” Raised by grandmother – Louisville, Kentucky Frederick A. Cullen and his wife of Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem NYU and Harvard African Americans can write poetry as well as whites can…
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Biography • “New Negro” • “Poet” – not a “black poet” • Raised by grandmother – Louisville, Kentucky • Frederick A. Cullen and his wife of Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem • NYU and Harvard • African Americans can write poetry as well as whites can… • Warned Hughes against becoming a “racial” or “negro” poet
“Any Human to another” • 1. What similes does Cullen use in the first and second stanzas? Why did he use those similes? • 2. What image of human isolation and self-sufficiency does the speaker introduce in the third stanza, and what is his view of it? • 3. What point does the speaker make about joy in the fourth stanza? How does the speaker contrast this point to the effect of sorrow? • 4. What comparisons are introduced in the last stanza? Why might Cullen have selected those particular comparisons? • 5. In this poem, Cullen personifies the emotions of joy and sorrow. What might be the purpose of this personification? Is it effective? Explain. • 6. Racism is not specifically mentioned in the poem. What attitude about racism can be inferred from the poem?