Summary:
What two literary devices are
most used in this poem?
Circle the use of these two
literary devices in the poem.
What are the two boys in the tableau
doing?
What do you think indignant means
based on the context of the poem?
Harlem Renaissance Poetry
“Tableau” by Countee Cullen
Locked arm in arm they cross the way,
The black boy and the white,
The golden splendor of the day,
The sable pride of Night.
Author's Purpose:
How does the speaker in “Tableau”
feel about the people he is
describing? Underline evidence in
the poem to support your answer.
From lowered blinds the dark folk stare,
And here the fair folk talk,
Indignant that these two should dare
In unison to walk.
Oblivious to look and word
They pass, and see no wonder
That lightning brilliant as a sword
Should blaze the path of thunder.
What theme is Cullen revealing
through “Tableau”?
How do the adults in “Tableau” feel
about what they see from their
window?
How is the poem “Incident” similar
to the poem “Tableau”?
“Incident” by Countee Cullen
How does the speaker in “Incident”
feel about the people he is
describing? Underline evidence in
the poem to support your answer.
Once, riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
How is it different?
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me “Nigger.”
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That’s all that I remember.
Why does Cullen choose to write
about racism from the perspective
of a child?
Summary:
What are the specific hardships and
injustices that the people of Harlem
remember?
Mood refers to the overall emotion
created by a work. Circle the words
and images that evoke an emotional
response.
What word is repeated throughout
the poem?
Author's Purpose:
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes
Here on the edge of hell
Stands Harlem—
Remembering the old lies,
The old kicks in the back,
The old “Be patient”
They told us before.
Sure, we remember.
Now when the man at the corner store
Says sugar’s gone up another two cents,
And bread one,
And there’s a new tax on cigarettes—
We remember the job we never had,
Never could get,
And can’t have now
Because we’re colored.
So we stand here
On the edge of hell
In Harlem
And look out on the world
And wonder
What we’re gonna do
In the face of what
We remember.
What do you think deferred means
based on the context of the poem?
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes
What does Hughes create by
repeating this word?
What particular mood is created by
the circled words and images?
What is the speaker’s perspective on
racism? Underline the words in this
stanza that best convey this
perspective.
Tone is the attitude a writer takes
toward the subject of the work.
Describe the tone of the poem.
What can you infer about Hughes
perspective concerning dreams?
What happens to a dream deferred?
What literary device is strongly used
in this poem and why?
Does is dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Make a prediction about the play
Raisin in the Sun if this poem was
the playwright’s inspiration for
the title.