Langston Hughes And Countee Cullen Essay

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An explosion of black culture in the arts is one of the most basic ways to describe the Harlem Renaissance. Many prominent figures, such as Zora Neal Hurston and Marcus Garvey, rose to fame due to their contributions to the arts. One of the main goals of these artists was to empower African Americans. Although this goal was shared, many individuals had different ideas on what type of equality they wanted and shared their ideas through their work. Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen conveyed their differing ideals through poetry, while May Miller and Regina Anderson showed similarities in ideas through plays. An individual cannot talk about the Harlem Renaissance without mentioning Langston Hughes. He started writing poetry as a teenager, admitting …show more content…
The large difference between Cullen and Hughes were their views on poetry, style, and equality. As previously stated, Cullen believed poetry was colorblind. He welcomed the techniques of previous poets, such as his inspirations John Keats and A.E. Housman. Hughes often wrote and encouraged other poets to “create a distinctive ‘Negro’ art, combating the ‘urge within the race toward whiteness’” (Hutchinson). It seemed as if Langston Hughes wanted equality, but wanted individuality as well. Black people were their own people, as well as valuable and human like every other white person. Now, Countee Cullen wanted equality but he did not approve poets being too racially driven. He did not think black writers should speak of so many unpleasant situations because they were not proud of them and it would start to create a rift concerning art between African Americans and white people (“Countee Cullen”). On the contrary, Cullen did write poems about racial injustice, but they were more of stories rather than call to actions like some of Hughes works. Cullen’s belief of colorblindness brought about his distaste for such racially centered poetry. He believed the style of poetry would cause more harm than good. Their differences set them apart, but Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes were still very influential to the black community during the Harlem
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