“The Boy and the Bayonet” and the Harlem Renaissance By: Artem Fedorenko "The Boy and the Bayonet" by James Weldon Johnson is a poem that shows the experiences of a young boy named Bud attending military school. but all-the-sudden faced embarrassment during a march on one of the last days of the school. After this incident, the boy comes home and is super embarrassed and doesn't want to show up again at school. This is because he fears being viewed as a failure by his comrades. Later, when he comes to school, kids begin to recognize him for it. This rebuilt his long-gone confidence. This poem demonstrates a theme, which is "Don't be afraid to make mistakes". This theme is shown in a variety of ways throughout the story. One was that he saw that he was getting praise for a mistake. Overall, this poem is a poem which shows a boy getting embarrassed. After getting embarrassed, he thinks his life is over, but is later recognized for his mistake. …show more content…
The communities were formed because of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time when black culture was on the rise, and Harlem communities benefited from this, building new communities, arts, and new ways to express themselves. For example, "the Cotton Club" was a nightclub that was known to let black singers do their thing, and sing. This built a community, and now the nightclub is known for having good music, and strong communities. Many factors contribute to the similarities. With another being the environment. Both are located on the south side of America. Another one is that both of these have positive atmospheres. While the poem has recognition, the Harlem Renaissance has people following their dreams and showing the world how blacks can also make great
The speaker in “Harlem” is an African-American activist in Harlem who is fighting for rights of the African-Americans who live in Harlem. Although written by the same author, “Harlem” and “Harlem Night Song” have similarities and differences in literary devices, tone and mood. In “Harlem Night Song”, Hughes used non-consistent rhyme. In the poem, it states, “The Harlem roof-tops/Moon is shining./Night sky is blue./Stars are great drops/Of
The poem appears to be torrent of abuse and vulgarity; however, it is ultimately an instructional guideline on how to survive the foreign conflict. The drill sergeants stern tone is instantly viewed when the audience is introduced to his monologue mid sentence, “And when I say eyes right I want to hear/ those eyeballs click and the gentle pitter-patter/ of falling dandruff”. Beginning mid sentence effectively allows the audience to feel as if they have just walked in on the intimidating speech instantly grabbing the audience’s attention. The sergeant displays his authoritative nature through the hyperbole of how quick he wants his soldiers to pay attention. The silence immediately required to follow, expressed through the silent-like onomatopoeia ‘pitter patter’, allows the audience to anticipate extremely important information to follow. This fast paced
Several boys believe that they are capable of handling on their own without any guidance from their parents. In "Rites of Passage" by Sharon Olds, the son is celebrating his birthday with his friends through the perspective of warfare. In "Boys" by Jim Tilley, the speaker is portraying the life of a war through their premature games with his neighbors. Both poems establish the reality of transition of reality from boys to men by creating warfare imagery that contradict the trait of a man and a child. Olds and Tilley demonstrate that boys want to prove themselves that they want to take care of themselves. Because of that, they switch between imagination and reality. The two poems emphasize the boys’ childhoods through their interest in playing war, and show their immaturity in trying to be proud and aggressive. However, their naivety is holding them back
The two poems are two extreme sides of the Negro mentality. They do not leave opportunity for other Blacks to move. They are both required complete conformity. The short story was about Blacks weighting their options. It shows that Blacks can think logically about their action.
“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” –Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry is one of the world’s greatest wonders. It is a way to tell a story, raise awareness of a social or political issue, an expression of emotions, an outlet, and last but not least it is an art. Famous poet Langston Hughes uses his poetry as a musical art form to raise awareness of social injustices towards African-Americans during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Although many poets share similarities with one another, Hughes creatively crafted his poetry in a way that was only unique to him during the 1920’s. He implemented different techniques and styles in his poetry that not only helped him excel during the 1920’s, but has also kept him relative in modern times. Famous poems of his such as a “Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America” are still being studied and discussed today. Due to the cultural and historical events occurring during the 1920’s Langston Hughes was able to implement unique writing characteristics such as such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues that is demonstrative of his writing style. Langston Hughes use of distinct characteristics such as irregular use of form, cultural and historical referenced themes and musical influences such as Jazz and the blues helped highlight the plights of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance Era.
“Poetry, like jazz, is one of those dazzling diamonds of creative industry that help human beings make sense out of the comedies and tragedies that contextualize our lives” This was said by Aberjhani in the book Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotation from a Life Made Out of Poetry. Poetry during the Harlem Renaissance was the way that African Americans made sense out of everything, good or bad, that “contextualized” their lives. The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the Black Renaissance or New Negro Movement, was a cultural movement among African Americans. It began roughly after the end of World War 1 in 1918. Blacks were considered second class citizens and were treated as such.
Initially, the “Harlem Renaissance derives from the fact that Harlem served as a symbolic capital of the cultural awakening-- a dynamic crucible of cultural cross-fertilization. Harlem was moderately a new black neighborhood in New York City, NY at the time and was already becoming (virtually) a black city that attracted a remarkable concentration of intellect and talent. In addition, Harlem was more “liberal” in matters of race than most American cities (although, of course, racism was rampant), New York had an extraordinarily diverse and centered black social world in which no one group could monopolize cultural authority, making it ...
One distinguished work of literature was Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Artists and the Radical Mountain”. According to Henry Louis Gates, in his book Harlem Renaissance Lives: from the African American National Biography, the essay was: an artistic declaration of independence—from the stereotypes that whites held of African Americans and the expectations they had of their creative works, as well as independence from the expectations that black leaders and black writers had of black writers and the expectations black writers had for their own work (Gates viii).White interest, however, did not only lie in black literature but also their nightclubs. The Cotton Place and Connie’s Inn were among the most popular nightclubs with the white population (Hutchinson 2). They featured black entertainment to white audiences and really helped tear down the cultural barrier between the two races. At the clubs, the whites would be exposed to Jazz music, different forms of art, and some theatrical performances. These nightclubs were equivalent to cultural enhancement centers. They were places where a man could learn a great deal about black culture while promptly liking himself.In general, the Harlem
Empathy is one major reason. In this current day and age, it seems more and more like we are unable to feel more for the plights and experiences others go through. Poetry itself is an expression of experiences that occur in all the different parts of the human experience and one could learn much from the experiences written from someone who different from them. The poems written during the Harlem Renaissance articulates the perspectives and feelings that African Americans were experiencing during that time and that we are still seeing some of today. One could read poems from these times and really consider what the author is trying to say and could possibly find themselves a bit empathetic towards
One of the major cities blacks moved to was Harlem, New York. Blacks, many of whom were glad to get away from the violence and poor treatment by the south, were interested in finding things to keep their mind off the years of oppression and to celebrate their new found freedom. This thirst to express themselves and to celebrate how far they came resulted in a new form of music, Jazz and many changes to fashion, how people talk, and interact. WIth such a large popularity and demand for new forms of expression, many of the best African American musicians, scholars, and artists moved to Harlem to start a new career. Harlem has become a hotbed for new styles of dancing, writing, music, and art.
In the poem it seems as if Langston is talking from the perspective of someone living in Harlem he
During the 1920's and 30’s, America went through a period of astonishing artistic creativity, the majority of which was concentrated in one neighborhood of New York City, Harlem. The creators of this period of growth in the arts were African-American writers and other artists. Langston Hughes is considered to be one of the most influential writers of the period know as the Harlem Renaissance. With the use of blues and jazz Hughes managed to express a range of different themes all revolving around the Negro. He played a major role in the Harlem Renaissance, helping to create and express black culture. He also wrote of political views and ideas, racial inequality and his opinion on religion. I believe that Langston Hughes’ poetry helps to capture the era know as the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great rebirth for African American people and according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the “Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s.” Wikipedia also indicates that it was also known as the “Negro Movement, named after the 1925 Anthology by Alan Locke.” Blacks from all over America and the Caribbean and flocked to Harlem, New York. Harlem became a sort of “melting pot” for Black America. Writers, artists, poets, musicians and dancers converged there spanning a renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was also one of the most important chapters in the era of African American literature. This literary period gave way to a new type of writing style. This style is known as “creative literature.” Creative literature enabled writers to express their thoughts and feelings about various issues that were of importance to African Americans. These issues include racism, gender and identity, and others that we...
Through these literary devices, Hughes creates powerful narratives that spark thought and encourage action, emphasizing the need to confront systematic injustice and work toward a more fair society. Hughes' poetry not only depicts the challenges and ambitions of African Americans, but also develops a sense of harmony and fraternity among different racial groups, contributing to societal cohesiveness and understanding. When delving into Langston Hughes' early poetry, particularly "The Weary Blues," it becomes evident that the literary devices he employs serve as potent vehicles for encapsulating and expressing the essence of the African American experience of the time. Hughes was profoundly influenced by Harlem's vibrant but tumultuous atmosphere during the "New Negro Movement". This movement not only provided creative inspiration but also brought attention to African Americans' diverse struggles, aspirations, and cultural
Where Gay grew up with all the racism around him that influenced his writing to show people that blacks are not oppressed anymore, to show people that blacks came back from their oppression and to show people that racism a real thing and that it happens all the time. Gay is trying to show everyone that reads his poems that racism is still a thing and that it happens all the time, oppression is still happening. Gay’s childhood was rough, he grew up in a town with racist history. Gay is black and he grew up in a town that was racist towards blacks. His childhood influenced the way he writes his poems a lot.