Biography Essay

Countee Cullen became a central figure in the Harlem or New Negro Renaissance and in American poetry in general with the publication of his first book, Color (1925), which black and white critics hailed as both beautiful and promising. While his reputation for writing beautiful lyri- cal poetry remained high throughout his poetic career, which was cut short by his untimely death in 1946, critics began to question how well he fulfilled his poetic promise. Many came to believe that his education was something of a handicap, leading him to exclude from his poetry a wide range of feelings and ideas, and any hint of vernacular or folk-based musical styles, in favor of traditional American and English versification and such standard romantic subjects as love and death. Nonetheless, Cullen was a bright star of the New Negro Renaissance. As one of the primary figures in the development of...