Most, if not all, of us are familiar with ebonics. Think back to the way that Jim talked in Huckleberry Finn and you have a pretty good idea of how the African-American slang is written out. I use the term "African-American" very deliberately here since the ebonics of black Americans differs from other Africans in the world. For example, when the Trinity Gospel Choir went on tour to England several years ago, the title for the tour was "It Ain't Over." After several days on tour, it became obvious that our audience had no idea what "ain't" meant. It was then that I began to realize that the ebonics of America were not internationally understood and I found the uses of ebonics in the poetry of both Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen to be interesting.
Word choice is often important to understanding poetry, and in the case of Hughes' poem “Mother to Son,” the language of the mother gives the woman narrator a sense of actually existing in the real world. Line two references the same thing I noted in the first paragraph: “Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.” The same voice of ebonics is used in “The Weary Blues” to give personality to the blues piano player and “Note on Commercial Theatre” with yet another blues player. Word choice is important to this accent, but so is altered grammar like in line seven, “Yep, you done taken my blues and gone.” While these seem like little observations, it is important to see why a particular voice is used in these three poems but not in others. Hughes uses the ebonic voice when the perspective of the mother and blues player is necessary, but not when the character is able to shine through in other ways like the rhyme scheme, structure, or a turn of a phrase.
Cullen uses ebonics and word choice effectively as well in “Uncle Jim.” The purpose of quoting Uncle Jim saying “White folks is white” is to convey his character. However, Cullen rarely uses colloquial language in his other poems in the anthology if ever. He prefers to use high religious language in “Yet Do I Marvel” and “Heritage” instead to convey the tone and context of the poetry. In the same way, Cullen's lack of ebonics does not mean that he is any less American than Hughes, simply different. While Hughes talks of the history of Africans in America and the African-American culture of Chicago and Harlem, Cullen's “Heritage” speaks to a desire to identify with his ethnicity and Africa but feeling unable to connect after being “centuries removed” from it.
Both poets choose their words, grammar, and structure carefully to express their feelings about culture, origins, and language. Seeing the differences between their use of ebonics and language can help us understand these poets and what they were trying to accomplish in using language that we may or may not be familiar with.
I think part of it is that Hughes is much more a "poet of the people" than Cullen is - Hughes' poetry is very nationalist, speaking to the situation of African Americans as a people, whereas Cullen provides a stunning personal window into the heart of a Black poet. As such, Hughes' more extensive use of ebonics is a move of solidarity, it reaches a whole group of people, whereas Cullen is very much working things out within his own heart where style of speech isn't the main concern. I'm really happy to be reading both of these poets together, because the overlap between them is absolutely amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely interesting to note how word choice plays a major role on the meaning and flow of poetry. I agree with Lyle in the fact that Hughes's poetry definitely appeals much more to the people. I found that his poetry was much easier for me to grasp than Cullen's. I was much more comfortable with Hughes's poetry that was filled with Ebonics than Cullen's who used much less. It could be because that is what we are more accustomed to hearing now. The Ebonics of Hughes's poem made it seem much more casual and graspable to the reader than Cullen's which required several readings in order to understand. Ebonics or no Ebonics, word choice and syntax definitely play a large role in the understanding of poetry.
ReplyDeleteComparing the two poets based on their word choice and use of grammar certainly provides intriguing possibilities. It was not the first thing that came to my attention while reading these two poets' work, but I think it is interesting to compare and contrast the choices that two prominent African-American authors made when writing their poetry.
ReplyDeleteI think hand in hand with language choice is the use of structure. Cullen tends to adhere to traditional poetical forms, while Hughes' poetry form varies frequently. I think I enjoy Hughes' work because of its jazzy qualities. It gives it a very specific voice.
ReplyDeleteVoice is probably the central question in these two, and Hughes's use of the dialect, slang, and rhythms of African-Americans and jazz serves to create a distinctively "African-American" voice, so, Jazz, I think you're right to address the "[African-]Americanness" of Cullen by comparison. Cullen sounds more Western because of his participation in a long tradition of English poetry - is this the same as saying he sounds "white"?
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