The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Among the most conservative of the Harlem Renaissance poets, Harvard educated Countee Cullen exploded onto the New York literary scene with the publication of Color (1925) and solidified his reputation with Copper Sun (1927) and The Black Christ and Other Poems (1929). His verse defied the expectations of white audiences. Where earlier black poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar had written in dialect, Cullen's tributes to black life echoed the classical forms of Keats and Shelley. The young poet was the leading light of the African-American literary community during the 1920s. Although his reputation waned after 1930 as he was increasingly attacked for ignoring the rhythms and idioms of Black culture, Cullen's ability to present black themes in traditional European forms made him one of the seminal figures in modern African-American poetry.
Baker, Houston A. Afro-American Poetics: Revisions of Harlem and the Black Aesthetic. Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.
Ferguson, Blanche E. Countee Cullen and the Negro Renaissance. New York, Dodd Mead, 1966.
Harris, Trudier, editor. Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940. Detroit, Gale Research Co., 1987.
Turner, Darwin T. In a Minor Chord: Three Afro-American Writers and Their Search for Identity. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press, 1971.