Transcript Harlem Renaissance

Harlem Renaissance
By: Nikki Escobar, Sarah Santos, Daniel Dayawon, & Darryl Agliam
AP Literature; Ms. Banuelos; Period 01
What is the movement?
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement from
1920-1930s where African Americans were proud of their
race and celebrated their culture. It’s also known as The
Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties for the new emerging
writers, poets, musicians and artists expressing
themselves through their works and the new music
emergence of Jazz. It spread from the Harlem neighborhood
in New York City to throughout the world where both whites
and blacks enjoyed the movement.
General Poetic Techniques +
Themes
Techniques
Themes
symbolism
• Racial pride
descriptive imagery
• Discrimination
Emphasis
Tone
reference to the past
• Power
• Appreciation
• Acceptance
Metaphors
Personification
• Struggle
• Hope
Poets
Countee Cullen
Langston Hughes
Claude McKay
Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Art of the Harlem
Renaissance
Langston Hughes
Biography
• Born in February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri
• Published his first poem in 1921, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
• Was a distinguished writer in high school and attended Columbia
University for one year and left to travel to African, Paris and Rome
working as a freighter and other odd jobs.
• Vachel Linday promoted his poetry and soon after he attended
Lincoln University and from there he launched and established his
career as a poet and a writer.
Notable Works
“the Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1921)
“The Weary Blues” (1926)
“Fine Clothes to the Jew” (1927)
“Dear Lovely Death” (1931)
“Let America be America Again” (1938)
Most important thing about him is that he was one of the
founders of the Harlem Renaissance
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold Fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow
Analysis and how it fits in the
Harlem Renaissance
Hold fast to dreams – personification
Life is a Broken winged bird that cannot fly – personification
Life is a barren field, frozen with snow - metaphor
Hughes utilizes the figurative languages above to encourage
and uplift their spirits to keep their dreams alive and hold
onto the no matter what because there would be no purpose
in life if they did not have any.
Claude McKay
Biography
•Festus Claudius McKay aka Claude McKay was one of the
essential figures during the Harlem Renaissance.
•Born in Jamaica in 1889, he was raised as the son of a peasant
farmer but had strong pride in African culture.
•He showcases in his work a variety of styles ranging from
celebrating his peasant life in Jamaica to presenting negative
views of American’s white dominant society.
•Notable Works
•“America”, “A Prayer”, “If We Must Die”, “Home to Harlem”,
“Harlem Shadows” and “The Harlem Dancer”
America
Although she feeds me
bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat
her tiger's tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I
will confess
I love this cultured hell that
tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides
into my blood,
Giving me strength erect
against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my
being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a
king in state,
I stand within her walls
with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a
word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the
days ahead,
And see her might and
granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of
Time's unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures
sinking in the sand.
Analysis and how it fits into
the Harlem Renaissance
In this poem, it expresses both McKay’s positive and negative views
on America during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. He
showcases both good and bad sides to America.
Metaphor: "Although she feeds me bread of bitterness”
-comparing America to a mother
Personification: “and sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth"
"stealing my breath of life"
–Explains how America gives him disgust (bitter bread) and pain
(sinking tiger's tooth in throat) and he finds it hard to live there
(stealing breath)
"I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!"
-Even though he faces many struggles and challenges in America,
he loves it there. He sees the many challenges and struggles as
things that make him stronger.
Cont.
Simile: “Her vigor flows like tides into my blood”
-Vigor = power, energy, force. Comparing America’s force/
power to his blood flows; there’s strength within himself.
Diction: "I stand within her walls with not a shred of terror, malice,
not a word of jeer.“
-He face the challenges he encounters head on, with no fear. He
doesn’t conform to the ways society does conflicting pain to others
(malice) and discriminate by mocking and speaking out (jeer) that
the white society does to African Americans.
Foreshadowing: "Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, and see her
might and granite wonders there, beneath the touch of time's
unerring hand, like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.“
-I interpreted it as he tells how the great things America holds, is
going to fade away like treasures sinking in the sand, if the racism,
bitterness, and inequalities don’t stop.
Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Biography
Born on July 8, 1902 in Giddings, Texas
Took classes at Columbia University and Pratt Institute in
New York.
Wrote pieces for Opportunity, a local magazine where she had
her own column, The Ebony Flute which allowed her to
connect with the Harlem lifestyle. It began as a support group
for young writers (Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and
Zora Neale Hurston were among the members)
Notable Works
To A Dark Girl
Song
Hatred
Secret
These works reflected racial pride and appreciation for African
Music and dance.
To A Dark Girl
I love you for your brownness,
And the rounded darkness of your breast,
I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice
And shadows where your wayward eyelids rest.
Something of old forgotten queens
Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk
And something of the shackled slave
Sobs in the rhythm of your talk.
Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow's mate,
Keep all you have of queenliness,
Forgetting that you once were slave,
And let your full lips laugh at Fate!
Stanza 1
Analysis
- Descriptive imagery
- appreciative tone
- racial pride (embracing the girl's true self)
- girl is symbolic of every black female
can be loved for her skin, even in sadness
Stanza 2
- reflects on the past
- metaphor- blacks were once great; royal
- Uses symbolism to portray the sadness that emanates from her voice
- confidence of a slave, destined to be a queen
Stanza 3
- forget that you were a slave
- live life with happiness
Countee Cullen
Biography
Won major literary prizes like the Witter Bynner poetry
contest in 1925.
Adopted in 1918 by Reverend Frederick A. and Carolyn Belle
(Mitchell) Cullen
An outstanding student at DeWitt Clinton High School
Edited school newspapers and literary magazines.
Notable Works
Color (1925)
Copper Sun (1927)
The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927)
A brown girl dead (1925)
A Brown Girl Dead
With two white roses on her breasts,
White candles at head and feet,
Dark Madonna of the grave she rests;
Lord Death has found her sweet.
Her mother pawned her wedding ring
To lay her out in white;
She’d be so proud she’d dance and sing
To see herself tonight.
Analysis and how it fits in
the Harlem Renaissance
In the poem Cullen uses the word white twice which is important
because in the title its clear that Cullen is talking about a black
person. in the first and second stanza, the word White is being used
many times which is helping show that the author is trying to say
that this black girl is living a life proud with white people. It seems
like its a contrast of black and whites. "she'd be so proud she'd
dance and sing to see herself tonight."
In the first stanza, the words "Dark" and "Death" are both
capitalized. To me, this is implying that she’s referring dark to death
because she capitalizes these words specifically other than the
rest. The dark may refer to skin because the title has the color
Brown in it. The rhyme scheme in this poem is (A-B-A-B)
AP Style Prompts
Your Turn! Try out one of these:
1.
In the Harlem Renaissance, there were many occurrences of
suppression, discrimination and sacrifice in the struggle to
attain freedom. Choose a work of literary merit where the
author effectively portrays the difficulty that is experienced in
the journey to freedom.
2.
The Harlem Renaissance contains both positive and
negative aspects to it. Choose 2 works of literature where it
expresses both positive and negative sides of Harlem
Renaissance then write a compare and contrast paper
discussing about it.
3.
The Harlem Renaissance brought change as new and
celebratory cultural movement. In a well-organized essay,
explain how the Harlem Renaissance had impacted the period
of 1920s using different examples from different works of
literature.
Quiz
1. What time period did the Harlem Renaissance begin?
A) 1900-1910
B) 1910-1928 C) 1920-1930 D) 1930-1940
2. Which of the following poets were not presented in the presentation?
A) Langston Hughes B) Claude McKay C) Zora Neale-Hurston D) Gwen
Bennett
3. What was the Harlem Renaissance?
A) A great artistic, intellectual and cultural movement for African-Americans
B) A time where African Americans celebrated their culture where many new
writers and artists emerged
C) B only
D) A & B
Quiz
4. What literary techniques were NOT mentioned in this presentation?
A) Metaphor
B) Personification C) Irony
D) Tone
5. What was the new sensation that formed from the Harlem Renaissance?
A) Fashion styles
B) Jazz music
C) Political reforms
D) all of the above
Resources
1. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bennett/life.h
tm
2. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.ht
m
3. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmharlem1.html
4. http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Bennett__Gwe
ndolyn.html
5. http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/
6. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/claude-mckay
7. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83