"On 'From the Dark Tower'"

"From the Dark Tower" is a poem by Countee Cullen. The writer and professor Eugenia W. Collier critically analyzes it in an article published in the College Language Association Journal. Learn this list to shed some light on some of the literary terms she used.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 11 Unit 5's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: The Harlem Renaissance, The New Negro, To Usward, Lift Every Voice and Sing, On 'From the Dark Tower' , How It Feels to Be Colored Me, Sweat, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mother to Son, critical reviews
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. express
    serve as a means for communicating something
    It seems to me that a poem which effectively expresses the spirit of Harlem Renaissance poetry is "From the Dark Tower" by Countee Cullen.
  2. poignant
    keenly distressing to the mind or feelings
    It is a restrained, dignified, poignant work, influenced in form by Keats and Shelley rather than by the moderns.
  3. examine
    consider in detail in order to discover essential features
    Let us examine the symbolism contained in the poem.
  4. symbol
    something visible that represents something invisible
    The sowing-reaping symbol here effectively expresses the frustration that inevitably falls to the individual or group of people caught in an unjust system.
  5. crux
    the most important point
    In his basic symbol then, Cullen expresses the crux of the protest poem which so flourished in the Harlem Renaissance.
  6. probe
    question or examine thoroughly and closely
    By degrees he probes deeper and deeper into the actual meaning of the image.
  7. paradox
    a statement that contradicts itself
    In the next two lines he points out one of many strange paradoxes of social injustice: that the "abject and mute" victim must permit himself to be considered inferior by "lesser men"--that is, men who have lost a measure of their humanity because they have degraded their brothers.
  8. statement
    a message that is declared
    This image is a statement of a loss of human values
  9. octave
    a rhythmic group of eight lines of verse
    The last line of the octave promises eventual change in the words, "We were not made eternally to weep."
  10. imply
    express or state indirectly
    Yet it implies that relief is still a long way off.
  11. sestet
    a group of six lines of verse
    It is in the sestet that the poem itself blossoms into full-blown dark beauty.
  12. juxtapose
    place side by side
    With the skill of an impressionistic painter, the poet juxtaposes black and white into a canvas of brilliant contrasts.
  13. suggest
    imply as a possibility
    The image suggests the pride in Negritude which became important in the Harlem Renaissance
  14. image
    a visual representation produced on a surface
    The image of the buds that cannot bloom in light suggests that the Negro's experience has created a unique place for him in American culture: there are songs that he alone can sing.
  15. concept
    an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances
    The final couplet combines the beautiful and sheltering concept of darkness with the basic symbol of futile planting.
Created on Mon Nov 17 06:20:31 EST 2014 (updated Mon Nov 17 09:21:14 EST 2014)

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