Similarities Between Langston Hughes And Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen and Lnagston Hughes Poetry
The intersection of themes in the poetry of Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes is, perhaps, most evident in their poems ‘Lines to My Father,’ and ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ respectively. A close analysis of the literal meaning and literary styles employed by both poets show that they drew their inspiration from common images, experiences, and the troubled history of the African-Americans. In the ‘Negro Speaks of Rivers,’ the persona claims that his soul has grown as deep as the rivers. In one way, the image of the river captures the essence of ancestry and the continuity of heritage. Throughout the poem, the poet uses various other images such as blood, veins, and sunset to embolden the push for cultural

reclamation, which underlined the spirit of Harlem Renaissance (Hughes and Earl 40). In terms of style and theme, the poet demonstrated the zeal to reshape the consciousness of the African-Americans in line with the requirements of the emancipatory spirit.
The use of images in both poems helps to capture the essence of renewal or the reclamation of the lost consciousness of the African-American people.

The two poems flow with an optimistic mood and reassuring tone, which connect with the shared hope for freedom and justice as the logical objectives of the cultural struggle. In ‘Lines to My Father,’ the persona applies figurative language to broaden the meaning freedom and justice within the context of the renaissance. Like ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers,’ Cullen’s poem, ‘Lines to My Father’ is couched in a vocabulary of struggle that connect with the bitter memories of slavery and its devastating effect on the culture, livelihoods, and consciousness of the black community in the post-slavery

America.
The themes of struggle, hope, and rebuilding of the lost consciousness cut across the two poems. Much of the weight of Cullen's poem lies in the opening line, "The many sow, but only the chosen reap," (Cullen and Major 16). In a profound way, this line captures the dispossessing and exploitative nature of slavery. Material deprivation remains one of the hallmarks of slavery. In a symbolic dimension, this deprivation and dispossession also entailed the gradual erosion of black consciousness because of the American system, which thrived on the ideals of racial hierarchy. The hierarchical order assigned the African-Americans the lowest levels in comparison to all the other racial groups that were constituted within the American social fabric. As such, the poets considered it their duty to redeem the identity of their downtrodden community.
Another striking resemblance between the two poems lies in the element of history.

Cullen’s poem alludes to the history of slavery while Hughes dedicates most of the poem’s detail on the historical origin of the black man’s civilization as experienced across vast geographical spaces (Hughes 40). Jointly, the poets explore the historical forces that determined the nature and identity of the African-Americans. Hughes’ poem connects the black man to his original homeland including the aspects of migration, civilization, and heritage. The purpose of the historical details in the two poems is to reconnect the black population in the United States to their past. Cullen reminds the black race of the ruin they incurred because of years of slavery. The poet wants them to acknowledge the injustice and engage in the search for a new consciousness. Hughes wants his targeted audience to take pride in their rich

heritage.
With regard to technique, Hughes uses repetition and a combination of regular verse and free verse to give his poem a unique form. Except for the last three lines, all the lines in, ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers,’ are written in free verse. The last three lines have the word rivers at the end, which gives the poem a rhythmic finish. Besides, the form adopted by Hughes defies the conventional forms of American poetry in a way that signals a decisive break with the established order. In this respect, this poem typifies the bold attempt by the poets of the Harlem renaissance to create new forms by which they could identify. Hughes was one of the leading proponents who desired to build new forms of artistic and literary expressions that were distinctively African-American. The unconventional form also shows in the irregularity of the stanzas.
The form in ‘Lines to My Father’ follows the conventions of American poetry. The poem has five stanzas with four lines in each. Moreover, the poet employed the regular scheme of ‘abab,’ which gives the poem a regular rhythm and harmony. The form used in this poem is consistent with Cullen’s universal approach to literature. Cullen argued that works of poetry should not be compartmentalized or zoned along the racial or cultural lines. He advocated a uniform and universal form that would bring together all great poetic works in America. In his perspective, it was still possible for the African-American poets to communicate their feelings, values without altering the conventional forms of literature. Apart from the noticeable differences in form, the two poems flow with the identical themes of redemption, struggle, and the reawakening of the black people's consciousness.