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Introduction: The Harlem Reinassance was a time of unprecedented overflow of African American arts. The urban centers were densely populated with African Americans who were enraged for being mistreated.

Cullen’s background and means of writing differs in the rest of the other poets because he has a mixed background of both white and African American culture and education. This ultimately inspired his whole means of writing. The foundation he wrote upon was a powerful one inspired by hope of unity. He tried to create peace between both races through his poetry. He believed art transcends race and the “oneness of art”. He believed that other writers during this time were “showcasing unpleasant realities that would but strengthen the bitterness of our enemies,”.

Question: Do you agree with his approach or do you believe it is passive and ineffective? What makes you feel that way?

I had to do a bit of research to get a well rounded understanding of the novel. I read some of the sections after the text of Jean’s writing to other people and his heart behind it. In short, his goal is that African American’s would not succumb to conformity and lose their culture. He does not care about the fame and glory he would receive. He just cares that his message is received. He is not surprised when it is. This makes me appreciate the text even more. It makes me embrace and soak in every word.

I assume that if he had a choice, he would never identify himself racially to a cencus or anywhere else; he would rather be lost in a world of literature and what it means to be either race. But since he still did have to identify, the evidence adds up that he mainly wanted to identify as white and this could be for a number of reasons; perhaps to avoid epistemic injustice. Even though it shouldn’t be this way, he knew that he would get a better chance at his text succeeding if he identified as a white man.

I now deeply understand the content so much more after reading that article about his racial identity as well as the letters after Cane.

Assignments that do not line up with the B contract:

1/25: “Drieser discussion response”: incomplete

1/17: “plan for success”: I did not allow viewing access

2/7: “Modern Poetry 2 Discussion Responses”: incomplete

2/14: “Cane/Toomer discussion responses”: I only completed 3 when I needed to complete all four

2/26: “Drieser Post Discussion Reflection”: incomplete

Revision to my plan for success: As soon as the assignments for each week are posted, I will look at them right away so I know what material I need to prepare myself to read, and I will start reading them as soon as possible even if I have not finnished that week’s assignments.

I will begin the discussion questions on Thursday’s at 5 when they open up as opposed to Friday night because I never do them as thouroughly as i would like to I do them last minute.

Our perception of ourselves heavily effects what we create. At the root of everything we do and create is the lense through which we view ourselves. I believe an author’s perception of their identity effects their work because it determines what they are passionate about. When an author decides/finds their identity, they have an internal location through which every word they write comes from.

If one is deeply conflicted and confused about their identity, this is somewhat of a unstable foundation to create from but their work can reflect their internal journey and wounds that have caused their deep dissonance. Toomer going back and forth his whole life about his racial identity causes me to believe that the different scenarios he faced truly did cause him to have so many different thoughts about it that would never be resolved. When he wrote “Cane”, I imagine him to be writing from a place of deep fustration of people trying to put him in a box of his race.

The way we read is also absolutely influenced by our perception of our identity. Sometimes I believe that when it comes to taking in information and learning about the world, it’d be best to of course always feel secure in your identity, but to remain so open to the outside world that it is as if we have not found our identity yet. I believe those who are most secure in their identity are able to learn about anything and those who are unreasonably defensive over their views are actually the most insecure in their identity. I find it very easy as a reader to miss out on information and content that could be so valuable because I’m too stuck in my own ways and just assume that content does not pertain to me. When I let go of walls I’ve built up and the protection of my identity, I discover so much beauty in content that is unfamiliar to me.

Modernist times is a time of experimentation, especially in a literary sense. It was the time to do what you want artistically. This text is an experimentation in many ways; in it’s structure and in it’s subject. He formatted it very interestingly. It is the make up of poems and short stories and it is very dynamic. It is unique in it’s subject in that he spoke into the times of the Harlem Renaissance in a way that is unprecedented. All the different outlets he utilized in “Cane” gave him opportunity to experiment with his feelings about it in many different ways. He speaks about many different types of prejudices and consequences of being African American and he does it artistically. He also uses religion to explain his points further and to create spiritual sounding short stories that I personally believe impact deeper. Here is one that I felt like he was really trying to make a point on; “God would not dare to suck black red blood,” (Toomer 41). He does not believe this himself but he is speaking about the arguments the people around him make. He interestingly begins the whole text with a borderline provacative short story called “Karintha” and uses such provactiveness to tackle a whole other unspoken element of the mistreatment of African Americans. I perceived the whole text as a whole to be a stream of consciousness.

There is a lot of evidence that Toomer was deeply conflicted about his racial identity, going back and forth about his identity many times. I read his letters to Waldo after the text and he repeated tells him that he is not Negro. He resoluted that he is “neither black or white, but is American”. He uses the Kabnis and other literary figures to explore this. I think what truly helps me understand. Another piece of background is that he grew up in a white neighborhood but was schooled in an African American school. Evidence such as this leads me to the thought that his main concern is not racial identity, but cultural identity.

After re-reading the poems and looking at the extra material that was provided, my understanding has definitely gotten deeper. Especially in the writing prompts from my classmates and reading my classmates responses. There are so many different things my classmates thought of that I did not think of at all, for specific poems. People drew an emphasis on specific lines of poems that I did not pay much attention to at all. Also, people had many different perspectives on each poem and what they thought it meant and it certainly changed my mind a few times. Here was how my mind evolved about “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock,” after the discussion post about it.

One student drew an emphasis on the metaphor of the coffee measurer and how he was explaining his anxiety about his ultimate use of time. This most aligned to my understanding of the poem, but I still thought it was so intertesting that she has a particular interest in this specific line; it made me think even deeper about the concept. Another student brought out the line in the poem where he explains that he does not think the mermaids will sing to him. He used that to explain his interpretation of the poem that it was about his lack of confidence and ultimately a loss of connection to the self, which I also thought was so interesting because when I read that line, that was not my first interpretation.

Some students interpreted the poem as just an expression of his inconsistency and spotty emotions and thoughts. Other classmates thought it was about confidence and self esteem, pointing out that he seemed some what confident in the beginning, going out, and then spirals inward in to his thoughts. One classmate even brought up how he embodies the psychology term “spotlight effect” and that made so much sense to me and brought a whole new understanding for me. Many students expressed that they felt empathetic for him and could not imagine being in that internal state all of the time. That was also an interesting response to me because that was not my initial response; I think I moreso was just relating to his train of thought that spiraled inwardly and downwardly, it’s happened to all of us right?

I certainly see value in both oral poetry as well as written poetry. Specifically with poetry in the modernist age I believe it is best as written because it is so mysterious and it does not explicitly explain the meaning of the poem; it is behind what you are reading. This kind of poetry takes a lot of contemplating and piecing together like a puzzle and you need to have perpetual access to it, in order to figure it out. It can not be figured out in one reading. There is a lot hidden details, that one might simply skim over, if just listening to it. For example, it took me several read throughs of “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” to pick up on different details. In the middle of it, he was randomly talking about “scuttling across the ocean floors of silent seas” (paragraph 11) ,and I later realized that he was alluding to the ocean scene he talks about in the end.

I do also see the value in oral poetry though. Another big theme of modernist poetry is to write like a rolling stream of consciousness and this is much more effective orally, I believe. In “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock”, I think there is a certain instinctual understanding of the poem that I would otherwise not have, due to the tone of his voice and which parts he slowed down at. At some points he sounded monotone and other parts his voice became very dynamic and almost musical. This definitely added to my deeper understanding of it; he seems to be going through very existential contemplations having to do with time and how he spent his life.

I am very interested in modernism and how these poets reflect this time period. It is so interesting to read poetry that reflect a time in America where all construct we had was obliterated. These poems are kind of calculated and there are many intentions behind many miniscule details and it is a lot to dissect.

There are many different backgrounds going into this week’s readings. TS has a philosophy background and writing with a search of meaning to life. William’s writings reflect his background of his parents drilling perfectionism into him. His writings reflect how he fought to not conform to that- he went to college to please them, but even then used it for his creative good, not for personal success. Many of his poems are fragmented and will cut off in the middle of a sentence to hop to a new one which obviously is intentional. I am excited to read over his poems again and study them more so that I can piece together all his intentions for why he places words where he does. Many of his poems resolute with a greater meaning I have realized, after reading them over a couple of times. Marianne’s poems reflect her keen interest in her surroundings and ability to observe.

My understanding of the poets and the poetry itself has evolved a lot through this past week. I evolved into having a deeper understanding of imagism and that the ultimate goal of it is to create simplistic work that is easily communicated. I appreciated it even more after learning that it is the result of the disposing of the victorian era and romanticism.

Learning about Pound, lowell’s, and HD’s backgrounds was also the hugest factor that impacted the way I read their works. It was very interesting to read where they came from, what they did and why they did it. Especially when we took a deeper look into their personal definitions of imagism, I began to see the rules they’ve created for themselves in their own writing.

Reading my classmates responses and participating in the class discussions also added another tier to perspectives on what i am readins as well as validating my thoughts.

I definitely had a different experience reading everything we’ve read thus far. The one I have enjoyed the most is Drieser. Partly because the plot was relatable to me and I think it was easier for me to digest than imagism poetry. I just genuinely enjoyed the way he crafted the plot and it was easy for my mind to follow. I think reading “Sister Carrie” demanded for me to connect emotionally in a way that the poetry doesn’t. The poetry demanded that I connect cognitively. Especially, Pound. It is difficult for me to understand his writing but I really enjoyed reading his biography and his method for the best imagism. I definitely agreed with HD’s theory for imagism the most. I have enjoyed reading Amy Lowell because for the most part I can piece together what she is saying and some of her poems are pretty deep. Overall, my experience reading the past three weeks have been better than I thought it would be. I think would help me even more is if I would do even more background research and actually gave myself more time to digest all the material.