Countee Cullen: Collected Poems Literary Elements

Most of Cullen's poems are written from a first-person perspective. The speaker is often characterized by their use of rich imagery and earnest emotionality. Most of these speakers are Black and share a number of qualities with Cullen himself. The consistency of the voice in his work makes it reasonable to assume these speakers are often representative of Cullen himself or at least some of his viewpoints.

Many of Cullen's poems are written in ballad meter or iambic pentameter. They almost always feature an ABAB rhyme scheme.

Cullen's poetry heavily features figurative language. In the poem "Tableau," the speaker uses a metaphor to compare an interracial couple to "The golden splendor of the day, / The sable pride of night."

Cullen often uses alliteration. In the poem "Heritage," there is alliteration in the S sounds of the line "What is Africa to me: Copper sun or scarlet sea." Assonance does not appear in his poems frequently.

Most of Cullen's poems are written in a very earnest tone and do not feature much irony.

Cullen wrote in a range of genres, from love poems to elegies.

Cullen's poems are often set in cities, though sometimes he refers to farms and rural areas.

The tone of most of Cullen's poetry is vulnerable and honest.

In much of Cullen's writing the protagonist is a Black individual and the antagonist is some representation, collective or individual, of racism and oppression.

The major conflict in a number of Cullen's poems derives from a Black individual being afflicted by prejudice and hate.

The climactic moment in Cullen's poems usually occurs in the penultimate stanza, as the speaker wrestles with a difficult piece of information.

The opening lines of the poem, "From the Dark Tower," foreshadow the planting of seeds in the poem's later half.

Most of Cullen's poems do not feature understatement.

When the narrator claims he is trying to keep his desires in check is between he wants to suggest that be wants to appear civilized. This alludes to the idea that many see the Africans as being people who behave more like animals rather normal members of society.

Cullen's poems mostly do not feature metonymy or synecdoche.

In the poem "Saturday's Child," poverty and pain are personified as godparents.

In "Heritage," there is hyperbole in the description of the "surge and foam and fret" of his blood.

Onomatopoeia is not prominently featured in Cullen's poetry. There is onomatopoeia in the line "Does the bugle-throated roar."