A typical dictionary might define poetry as literary composition written in verse with meaning. ... It is the basis of every branch of literary and artistic expression. ... Hughes poem may be distinguished from prose literature in terms of form by its smaller size, by its frequent use of simile, rhyme, and its dependence on the line as a formal unit. ... Poetry is a literary composition written in verse with meaning. ...

• Word Count: 1645
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

The Harlem Renaissance, as the name given to this whole bunch of artistic and literary revivals, is believed to have begun in 1923 with Jean Toomer's novel Cane. ... Countee Cullen's "Incident" is another striking one in terms of how it makes the reader feel. ...

• Word Count: 750
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Jean Toomer's Cane was published in 1923, a miscellany composed of fifteen poems, seven stories, six prose vignettes and a play that all focus on Negro life during the 1920's. The book was focused on the primitive modern sense of what it meant to be an African-American during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance spanned the 1920's and 'it was the period when the Negro was in vogue'.1 New York had become 'the capital of the black world'2 and Harlem was the site of black economic power and consciousness. What is now considered to be the Harlem Renai...

• Word Count: 3347
• Approx Pages: 13