The poets of the Harlem Renaissance faced a challenge above and beyond that of their modern contemporaries. The two 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 that all moderns struggled to relate to. In the context of a society that was confused at best, poets sought to synthesize what they saw as a fragmented culture. Black soldiers returning from World War I had difficulty readjusting to segregated life, as they had become accustomed to greater equal treatment overseas. Coinciding with racial divisions came a transformation of the poetic movement. It experienced a revolution of form, content, and function, as poets reacted to a turbulent culture. Furthermore, poets struggled to adapt to a new reading public and its new expectations. While all modernist poets faced this struggle, black poets faced it from the margins of society. They have been marginalized not only for their blackness, but also for the way they have chosen to react to the modern dilemma. Both blacks and whites criticized Langston Hughes for his informal style. Members of his own community disparaged him for not writing at the level of whites. Even black poets like Countee Cullen who used traditional poetic form were considered distinctive compared to other contemporary poets. Hughes' summation of his struggle mimicked the form of jazz music, fusing 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 purpose: 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Although Cullen models “Yet Do I Marvel” on the famous Shakespearean sonnet, its themes are progressive. It infuses traditional form with modern substance. The poem is written in rhythmic iambic pentameter and uses highly sophisticated language. Its ABAB rhyme scheme emphasizes contrast in form and content by linking the last word of every other line into rhyming pairs. The relationships of these couples reveal Cullen's conflict. The clash between a “gentle” God and a “blind” humanity, highlighted by his rhyme, illustrates Cullen's conception of what it means to live in a modern society. For him, modernity is a collision between old and new, certain and uncertain. It clings to a familiar and well-established poetic form to address contemporary issues. Cullen's faith in God is sure, but he questions His ways. Why do most men “die one day” (4) and what drives “his terrible hand?” (12). These questions emerge from Cullen's reaction to a modern society that questions and often rejects established tradition. Through an overlap of traditional style and contemporary content, it illustrates the first of his modern dilemmas. Hughes explores similar modern themes through the imitation of a jazz song. His poem “The Weary Blues” struggles to engage the immediate moment and context, using the form of a jazz song. In its opening lines, the poem describes a scene, with the narrator hearing the lament of a jazz singer, and using language to imitate the sound of the singer's melody:humming a sleepy, syncopated melody, rocking back and forth to the rhythm of a humming bellow... it made that poor piano moan with melody. (1-2, 10)These rhetorical literary devices blend the boundaries between poetry and jazz. By using language that reflects his content, Hughes makes his poem sound like music. When describing a jazz song, use melodic language. Words like “buzz” and “drowsy” hang on readers' tongues so they remember what the words actually mean. The placement of the word “syncopated” actually syncopates the rhythm of his verse. This influence of the jazz movement on Hughes reflects his peculiar dilemma and explains much of the criticism directed at his poetry. He is caught 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 to synthesize himself within a larger movement. Cullen is harder to admonish because, at least, he engages in modern themes while preserving the traditional form. In contrast, Hughes identifies with singers, not just poets, and also addresses modern issues. While Cullen expresses feelings of distance from a troubled modern society, Hughes' feelings of distance stem from his conflicted personality. He identifies with the entire Harlem Renaissance and uses a contemporary form to unite them all in 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[e] Tantalus,” who was forced to stand in neck-deep water that he could not drink, and “doo[m] Sisyphus,” who doomed to roll a bolder up up a hill, only to watch it fall just before reaching the top, for the rest of eternity. We understand that these two mythological figures suffer their punishments because an omnipotent God deems them deserving of such fates. 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 see black poets as being in a favorable position, and he is not alone: ​​the marginalized feeling is also present in Hughes's work. This view colors Cullen's reference to Sisyphus and Tantalus; as people destined to encounter unavoidable obstacles, they reflect the problems faced by black Americans in the early 20th century. Like Tantalus, blacks were tantalized by the booming society around them and unable to reap its benefits. And just as Sisyphus was condemned to face an insurmountable task, black people were held to unjust standards. As poets, some, like W. E. B. DuBois, asked them to raise their race from above, and were admonished when it appeared they were not fulfilling their duties. Whites did not see black poetry as equal to that of traditional moderns. Through an invocation of Greek mythology, we appreciate Cullen's perception that black Americans faced hardship in every aspect of life and, like Sisyphus, saw no potential remedy. Through the lyrics of a jazz singer, Hughes conveys his conception of modern society as lonely and oppressive. The singer's first verse illustrates this sense of loneliness: "I have no one in all this world, / ... no one but myself." (19-20). Even in the vast modern world – “this whole world” – the singer feels alone and isolated. His repetition of the word “I” throughout the verses also emphasizes this isolation. He doesn't hear.