Any+Human+to+Another+(Block+34)

= Countee Cullen =

**Background:** Countee Cullen was very secretive about his personal life, so his birth date and birthplace have never been primarily disclosed. He was accepted as a great port from an early age and won numerous awards for his outstanding abilities in writing. After being abandoned by his parents at birth, he was raised by his grandmother. After her death in 1918, Cullen was adopted by a Reverend in Harlem and raised as a Methodist. After completing his secondary education, Cullen was accepted into New York University and attended there. After graduating and producing "Color," Cullen pursued graduate studies at Harvard University. Cullen wanted nothing more then to be known as a "poet" and not a "Negro poet." Many Analysts now believe that his poem, //Any Human To Another// was a deep cry for racial equality. Others also believe that that true theme for this poem was that all humans are individually unique and beautiful and must help the world prosper by working together and using all our different strengths and weaknesses to grow. In //Any Human To Another,// Cullen uses a very unique structure to help his idea come across to the reader. His poem is made up of five stanzas. Stanzas one and two contains six lines, the third stanza contains seven, the fourth contains five, and the fifth contains seven. It is believed that Cullen did this to show how a whole bunch of different forms of type come together to form one entire poem. This, in a way, is an analogy that Cullen uses to show his audience how different people come together to make up a society. America is full of different cultures, and the varieties of stanza lengths show that variety of different cultures in our society. Countee Cullen clearly thinks his poems through so that they contain deeper meanings. This poem included symbolism and imagery, and they are very evident throughout the lines of this poem. **Structure:** **Lit Terms:** ** Imagery: ** ** Fig Language: ** ** Tone & Theme: **
 * Summary **
 * **Mainly about sorrows and pain African Americans experienced during Harlem Renaissance also how one can be “diverse yet single”**
 * **Expresses pain narrator felt and how others felt it too**
 * **Also talks about ownership of tent 3rd stanza**
 * **How rare joy is for most**
 * **Life full of sorrow & pain with little feeling of joy**
 * ** Form: organic/open **
 * ** Rhyme scheme: each stanza different- abccab, aabccb, ababccd, and abacabc, **
 * **Meter:**
 * ** Stanza: 5 **
 * ** Lines: 31 **
 * ** Language used: common & easy to understand **
 * **Punctuation: commas, periods, capitalization used**
 * Connect: **
 * ** Text: Expressing pain & sorrows of life with little joy. **
 * ** Author: Countee Cullen, “emphasizing commonality of human experience. **
 * **Historical: written early 20th century – Harlem Renaissance**
 * **Alliteration: lines 3, 18, 22 (best example)**
 * ** Cataloguing: none **
 * ** Repetition: line 11 **
 * ** Anaphora:none **
 * ** Parallelism: none **
 * **Consonance: line 13, 22**
 * ** Line 29 “ of bitter aloes wreathed” **
 * ** Line 18 “of sun & shadow” **
 * **Lines 4-6 “pierce to the marrow, Through the fat And past the bone”**
 * ** Simile: line 2,3 “not me alone, like an arrow” **
 * ** “Must intertwine like sea and river” **
 * ** Metatphors: none **
 * ** Personification: none **
 * **Symbolism: sea & river symbolizing diversity and individuality of people**
 * ** Tone: melancholy/sad **
 * ** Topic: Mainly about sorrow/ pain people have experienced. Also demonstrates people being “diverse” and being individual **
 * ** Angle: first person authors perspective **
 * ** Theme: pain/ sorrows of life **
 * **Individuality & diversity of life**