Sunday, November 4, 2007
Cullen Poems
The first thing that stood out to me in Cullen's poetry was his religious references. In "Black Magdelens" he refers many biblical stories. When he writes "...to write upon the sand" he is referring to God writing on the wall. The line "Inviting him that has not sinned to raise the first rude hand" is referring to Jesus stopping the women from being stoned. The line talking about Christ coming and putting ointment on his feet is referring to Mary Magdeline wiping Jesus's feet with perfumes. "Simon the Cyrenian Speaks" is also an obvious biblical reference of Simon who carried the cross for Jesus when he fell before the crucifixion. I also noticed that like other writers we've seen (Toomer, and McKay) he discuss colored women as being beautiful, like in "A Song of Praise". I really like Cullen's poetry. I think he has a lot of meaning behind what seem to be meaningless phrases. He makes you look deeper into the writing and that's what good poetry is supposed to make you do.
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9 comments:
The biblical references are engaging because naturally if the reader is familiar with the references the reader will be curious to see just how the author approaches these accounts.
I am not a very religious person at all. Biblical references for the most part go right over my head, but your post was interesting. I agree with you that Cullen's poetry makes you think and look a lot deeper. It does make it good, but at the same time for someone like me who isn't very good with poetry it makes it challenging too.
I agree that Cullen's poetry is more that just simple phrases on paper. In order to get the full effect you actually have to try and relate to what he is speaking about, and look for a deeper meaning. I noticed the biblical references as well, and at some points in the poems I wished that it was something other then a biblical reference.
THe biblical references definitely show in many of Cullen's poems and they are quite obvious as well. I like his poetry as well. Even though I have a hard time comprehending them, the style that he uses makes them a little easier to read. It seems to be easier for me to read them stanza by stanza and talk through each section.
I definitly agree with that you have to look a lot deeper in to cullen poems. you can definitly see biblical referneces throughout his poems. Some people like myself that are not so religious makes it harder to read and understand the poems. There are strong messages behind most of his poems. In his poems when he mentioned biblical stories you think he is fully religious then other he protrays himself as a pagan almost do that makes it more dificult to read what cullen's main focus or belief is.
I really agree with you on the point that the biblical references make the poems very readable and applicable if you have had a religious upbringing or are familiar with stories from the Bible. Whenever we read a poem that has a biblical reference which I know and understand, I feel much more emotionally attatched to and invested in them. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I've been thinking about the poem "Simon the Cyrenian" a LOT outside of class because I just feel so connected to it.
I, too, noticed the bliblical references. I found them to be engaging and helped show a type of writing that is different than what we have been reading so far. It seems that he is writing as an actual poet instead of a spokesperson for his race.
I, too, noticed the bliblical references. I found them to be engaging and helped show a type of writing that is different than what we have been reading so far. It seems that he is writing as an actual poet instead of a spokesperson for his race.
I also noticed the biblical references in his writing. I especially noticed it "Simon the Cyrenian". I think it is amazing how a poet can take so much and put it all into one simple poem. THe messages are so powerful but are said simply and in a straightforward way. I think that his religious parts in his poems could just have to do with the time period he lived in. Teligion was very popular especially among the African American community. Maybe he was just taking what he knew and incorporating it into his writing.
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