The poets of the Harlem Renaissance faced a challenge beyond that of their modern contemporaries. Both groups were united in their struggle to make sense of a chaotic reality. But black poets writing in Harlem faced a difficult situation because their race further isolated them from a society with which all Moderns found it difficult to identify. In the context of a society that was, to say the least, confused, poets strove to synthesize what they considered to be a fragmented culture. Black soldiers returning from World War I had difficulty readjusting to segregation, as they had become accustomed to more equal treatment abroad. Alongside racial divisions, there was a transformation of the poetry movement. It experienced a revolution in form, content, and function, as poets responded to a turbulent culture. Moreover, poets had difficulty adapting to a new readership and its new expectations. Although all modernist poets faced this struggle, black poets faced it from the margins of society. They have been marginalized not only because of their blackness, but also because of how they have chosen to respond to the modern dilemma. Both blacks and whites criticized Langston Hughes for his informal style. Members of his own community decried him for not writing on a white level. Even black poets like Countee Cullen who employed traditional poetic form were considered distinctive from other contemporary poets. Hughes' synthesis of his struggle mimics the form of jazz music, blending the black experience with the modern dilemma. The traditional form of Cullen's work also explores the black-modern dilemma by contrasting its content. Despite their divergent forms, Hughes's "The Weary Blues" and Countee Cullen's "Yet Do I Marvel" both serve as examples of black poets with the same goal: a reconciliation of blackness with the struggles of a modern world. Say no to plagiarism. . Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Although Cullen models “Yet I Wonder” after the well-established Shakespearean sonnet, its themes are progressive. It infuses traditional form with modern substance. The poem is written in rhythmic iambic pentameter and uses very sophisticated language. His ABAB rhyme scheme emphasizes a contrast in form and content by connecting the last word of every other line in rhyming pairs. The relationships of these couples reveal Cullen's conflict. The clash between a "good" God and a "blind" humanity, emphasized by his rhyme, illustrates Cullen's conception of what it means to live in a modern society. For him, modernity is a collision between the new and the old, the certain and the uncertain. He clings to a familiar and well-established poetic form to address contemporary issues. Cullen's faith in God is certain, but he questions his ways. Why do most men “die one day” (4) and what constrains “his terrible hand”? (12). These questions emerge from Cullen's reaction to a modern society that often questions and rejects established traditions. Through a layering of traditional style and contemporary content, it illustrates the first of his modern dilemmas. Hughes explores similar modern themes through an imitation of a jazz song. His poem “The Weary Blues” strives to capture the immediate moment and context, using the form of a jazz song. In its opening lines, the poem describes both a scene, in which thenarrator listens to the moan of a jazz singer, and uses language to imitate the sound of the singer's melody: Humming a sleepy syncopated melody, Swaying back and forth to a bellowing song... He made that poor thing moan piano with melody. (1-2, 10) These rhetorical literary devices blend the boundaries between poetry and jazz. Using language that reflects his content, Hughes makes his poetry sound like music. To describe a jazz song, he uses melodic language. Words like “buzz” and “drowsiness” hang on the reader’s tongue in a way that brings to mind what these words actually mean. The placement of the word “syncopated” actually syncopates the rhythm of his line. This influence of the jazz movement on Hughes reflects his particular dilemma and explains much of the criticism of his poetry. He is torn between his identity as a poet and that of a black artist. While Cullen clings to a traditional form, Hughes uses jazz as an attempt at synthesis within a larger movement. Cullen is harder to chastise because, at least, he engages with modern themes while preserving the traditional form. Conversely, Hughes identifies with singers, not just poets, and also confronts modern issues. While Cullen expresses feelings of distance from a struggling modern society, Hughes' feelings of distance come from his conflicted personality. He identifies with the entire Harlem Renaissance and uses a contemporary form to unite them all under their common struggle. Cullen perceives the modern world as full of obstacles. As a black poet, he was confined to Harlem and lived in a segregated and unequal society. In his poem “Yet Do I Marvel,” Cullen illustrates this inequality by invoking Greek mythological figures. He wonders why God would "torture Tantalus", who was forced to stand in neck-deep water that he could not drink, and "doo[m] Sisyphus", whom he condemned to do ride a bolder up a hill, only to see it fall just before reaching the top, for the rest of eternity. We understand that these two mythological characters suffered their punishments because an all-powerful God deemed them deserving of such a fate. Cullen's question in the last two lines of the poem allows us to understand this mythological reference as an illustration of how he sees himself in a modern context. He wonders why such a great and “good” God would make “a black poet” (14). Apparently, Cullen does not view black poets as being in a favorable position, and he is not alone – the feeling of marginalization is also present in Hughes' work. This view colors Cullen's reference to Sisyphus ad Tantalus; as people condemned to inescapable obstacles, they reflect the problems that black Americans faced in the early 20th century. Like Tantalus, blacks were seduced by the burgeoning society around them and unable to reap its rewards. And just as Sisyphus was doomed to face an insurmountable task, black people were held to unjust standards. As poets, some, like WEB DuBois, asked them to raise their race from the top, and were reprimanded when it seemed they were not fulfilling their duties. Whites did not view black poetry as equal to that of traditional Moderns. Invoking Greek mythology, we appreciate Cullen's perception that black Americans faced difficulties in all facets of life and, like Sisyphus, saw no potential cure. Through the words of a jazz singer, Hughes expresses his conception of modern society.