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Art, Poetry, and The Harlem Renaissance

Last updated 26 days ago
24 questions
  1. First, watch Crash Course Black American History: The Harlem Renaissance Part 1. Think about the impact of The Harlem Renaissance on American Culture.
  2. Next, choose one poem from the era to analyze. You may skip the other poems. What is the message of the poem you chose? How does it add to your ideas about the Harlem Renaissance?
1

What factors contributed to the Harlem Renaissance?

1

What is one thing you learned about visual artists during The Harlem Renaissance?

1

Why was the work of Langston Hughes controversial?

1

What is one thing you learned about literary artists during The Harlem Renaissance?

1

What is one thing you learned about musical artists during The Harlem Renaissance?

Poem Option #1

THE TROPICS IN NEW YORK

by Claude McKay

Bananas ripe and green, and ginger-root,
Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,
And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,
Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,
Set in the window, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,
And dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies
In benediction over nun-like hills.
My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.
1

What emotions does the speaker experience in the poem?

1

Why do the fruits make the speaker weep?

1

How do words like "dewey", "mystical", "singing" help us understand the speakers feelings?

1

To long for something is to want it deeply. What is the speaker of the poem longing for? Do you think he is alone in this longing?

Required
1

How does this poem add to your ideas about the Harlem Renaissance?

Poem Option #2

TO ONE COMING NORTH

by Claude McKay

At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow,
Like white moths trembling on the tropic air,
Or waters of the hills that softly flow
Gracefully falling down a shining stair.
And when the fields and streets are covered white
And the wind-worried void is chilly, raw,
Or underneath a spell of heat and light
The cheerless frozen spots begin to thaw,
Like me you’ll long for home, where birds’ glad song
Means flowering lanes and leas and spaces dry,
And tender thoughts and feelings fine and strong,
Beneath a vivid silver-flecked blue sky.

But oh! more than the changeless southern isles,
When Spring has shed upon the earth her charm,
You’ll love the Northland wreathed in golden smiles
By the miraculous sun turned glad and warm.
1

What is the main theme of the poem 'To One Coming North'?

1

How does the speaker describe winter throughout the poem?

1

How does the writer's description of spring show a change?

1

How does this poem add to your ideas about the Harlem Renaissance?

Poem Option #3

MOTHER TO SON

by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-cimbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
1

What is the central message of the poem?

1

How does the mother describe her life journey?

1

What advice does the mother give her son?

1

What literary device is most evident in the poem?

1

How does this poem add to your ideas about the Harlem Renaissance?

Poem Option #4

POEM

by Langston Hughes

The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.
1

What aspect of the Harlem Renaissance is being celebrated in the poem?

1

What is the overall tone of the poem?

1

What is the central message about Black identity in the poem?

1

How does comparing his people to the sun, to the stars, and to the night add to Hughes' poem?

1

How does this poem add to your ideas about the Harlem Renaissance?