American Literature / Unit 13 AML 1216 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Cullen's Traditionalism and the Quarrel It Caused
Captions available
The idea
Cullen wanted to be a poet rather than a Black poet, and wrote in the English tradition on purpose. Hughes's manifesto argues the opposite case, that the artist should build on Black speech and music. The disagreement runs through the movement, and the course reports it without settling it.
In practice
The tradition, or the blues.
Where people slip
Both positions are inside the movement.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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