Essay 2

Many poets of the Harlem Renaissance made extensive use of the sonnet form; module 2 contains examples such as Countee Cullen’s “From the Dark Tower,” Helene Johnson’s “Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem,” and Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die.” PROMPT: Write an essay in which you compare some of the sonnets written during the Harlem Renaissance. How do different approaches to the sonnet form signal different thematic concerns?

ESSAY #2
For this assignment, you will write a comparative essay (of 900-1200 words) on poetry you read in this course.
• This paper is worth 25% of your overall course grade.
• For this essay, you are asked to submit two documents:
1. The Smarthinking feedback (which also contains your first draft)
2. Your final draft
Read the important information below regarding the assignment. I encourage you to print these guidelines, read them thoroughly, and keep them for your reference as you are writing your paper.
Essay Structure and Content (Chapter 31, pages 1918-1937)
Your paper should be well organized and well developed, which means your ideas should be clearly presented and sufficiently supported. Essay structure is key. Refer to Chapter 31.1.5 (page 1926) for a mini-lesson on proper essay structure:
• Your essay should have a central point—or thesis statement—that is expressed in the introductory (first) paragraph (preferably at or near the end of it).
o NOTE: The thesis statement is the most important sentence in your essay. It is the foundation upon which the rest of the essay is built. If your thesis statement is weak, the entire essay will suffer.
• The body paragraphs, comprising the bulk of your paper, are where you support your thesis:
o Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence (at or near the beginning of the paragraph) expressing the main idea of that paragraph.
o Each topic sentence should directly support your thesis.
o Use the body paragraphs to provide specific details (such as character analyses, examples, illustrations, and so on) to provide evidence for your point(s).
• Conclude your essay with a paragraph in which you offer final thoughts; do not introduce new details in your closing paragraph.
• Please review Chapter 31, Section 31.2.1 for comparative essay structure (pages 1930-1934) because both prompts are comparative.
• Essay length should be 900-1200 words.
Language
• Your writing should be college-level.
• Your tone should be academic, not conversational (avoid use of first-person and second-person pronouns)
• It should be free of errors in sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and word choice.
• The occasional error—one or two—is understandable.
• Any more than two errors will be considered flagrant disregard of the use of Standard English and will result in a deduction of points from your score.
• Your writing should be in the third person.
• When writing about literature, use the present tense. (eg, Lola runs away from home—not ran away.)
Formatting
As you know, following MLA guidelines is essential.
• Refer to Chapters 30-35 in your textbook. Chapter 35, specifically, contains a sample literary analysis essay.
o NOTE: You are not required to include secondary sources (scholarly criticism, historical information, etc), but if you do, your sources must documented appropriately.
• You will incorporate quotations from poems into your paper. Please review pages 1962-1991. (Section 34.1.2)
• You may also compare your finished paper with the sample MLA papers found here:
o http://guides.skylinecollege.edu/ld.php?content_id=25062151
o http://guides.skylinecollege.edu/ld.php?content_id=44584132
o https://style.mla.org/sample-papers/
Some Common Errors: Beware!
Here are a few of the most common student errors. I will deduct points for the following:
• excessive plot summary (your paper should be analysis)
• formatting titles incorrectly
• misspelling words, including proper nouns
• improper capitalization
• using unacceptable secondary sources, such as Schmoops, BookRags, Wikipedia, SparkNotes, popular magazines, newspapers
• improper use of quotations, such as dropped-in quotes (lines from the text that stand alone as sentences in your essay)
• ending a paragraph with a quotation (remember: the sentences following the quotation should always explain its significance)
• excessive use of quotations. The use of more than three quotations per paragraph is considered excessive. (Your paper should be just that—yours. The essay should be your ideas written in your own words. Incorporate quotations from the poetry—and any secondary sources, if you use them—when necessary to support your points. )
• improper formatting of in-text citations
• improper use/placement of parentheses, quotation marks, periods
• general formatting errors (involving font, line spacing, header, indentation)
• improper formatting of Works Cited page
• language errors (fragments, run-ons, comma-splices, verb problems)

Rubric
• A detailed scoring rubric is available for your review by clicking the dropbox for Essay 2.
• The rubric is divided into several categories (including a category for your use of Smarthinking feedback).
• Make sure you review the rubric so that you can see how your paper will be evaluated.

<< Instructions >>

Fully address the prompt within 900 – 1200 words.
Essays must have the proper structure. This includes an introduction paragraph, a minimum of three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. The first page must include a page number, heading, and a title in MLA format. The introduction must begin with a hook/attention grabber, proceed with general background information on the topic, and the ONE SENTENCE thesis is the LAST sentence in the introduction.
Use your own ideas and quotations from the literature to support your thesis. When using quotations, remember to introduce the quote with a signal phrase and follow each quote with an interpretation in your words (review the quote sandwich technique). Do not use any secondary sources for topic #1. The textbook is the only approved source for topic #1.
Use MLA parenthetical citations immediately following each quotation and/or paraphrase. Please review Chapter 34 for additional support with quotations and in-text citations.

ANSWER

How different approaches to the sonnet form signal different thematic concerns
Introduction

The Harlem Renaissance is the most influential movement in African American Literal History. Many poets during the movement made extensive use of the sonnet form. The poems represented the celebrated work from the explosion of arts and culture that occurred during this period in the 1920s. The  movement embraced  literary, musical, and visual arts,  where the participants  sought to reconceptualize the stereotypes  which had influenced the Black American people  to their heritage  and each other

Most of the sonnet forms in the  Harlem movement period expound more on racism, especially experienced by the black Americans.  The fundamental structure of the sonnet (octave, volta, sestet) were many have self-reflective forms and is mainly adapted by famous poets such as McKay, Cullen, Hughes, and Brooks. The works of the poets can be outlined based on how they make the sonnet forms new. One of the most renowned poets is Claude McKay, who wrote formal, militant sonnets to create a racial protest.  In the era, Countee Cullen modeled his work after the English Romantics and specialized in writing traditional sonnets that addressed racism and religion.  Langston Hughes diverged most strongly from the usual standard sonnet form. He nevertheless wrote at least three strict sonnets. “Seven monme nets of Love” by Langston Hughes fuses the sonnets with blue forms and also ensures to use a vernacular diction, making it quite different from many other sonnets of this era.  Another poet who used sonnets in his poverty, but differently from others, was Gwendolyn Brooks. She mostly wrote about the poverty and racism of the urban black people living in the country.  Her modernist Sonnet sequences include “Gay Chaps at the Bar” from A Street in Bronzeville (1945) and “the children of the poor” from Annie Allen (1949). She ensured to reconcile the elite and the vernacular.

All these sonnets depict the racial and gender struggles which the American black Minorities have faced.  However,  they articulate their themes differently and through using different use of language and elements of art.  They, therefore, continue to play an active role in the practice of democratic movements.  The formalists had an intuition that sonnets in the era were not concerned with day-to-day politics. However, political critics stated that the sonnets were very concerned about the then politics and helped raise awareness about the social happenings, more so the discrimination.

Langston Hughes, one of the Harlem movement poets, is commonly known as the poet of folk forms and blue rhythms. He reflects on Shakespeare’s works, where he began his career with Harlem in Shakespeare and shifted to Shakespeare in Harlem, which can be seen through his poems.  He is hence different from other poets of the same era. However, it is relatively harder to easily categorize all the poems based on their differences and how they decide to articulate their works.  Hughes and McKay, through their art, believe that African Americans possess a distinct culture, where they also view that artists need to value the folks and cultivate the folk values for the black pole in the country. One of the most controversial sonnets by Hughes was the “Christ in Alabama” (1931), which entailed a 13-line blues poem, and was later republished to have fourteen lines. The artist was different in that she would also have poems that were in genteel forms at this period. Hughes’s works were quite different from other artists in that as much as she published numerous poems of the length of sonnets and employed techniques related to the sonnets form are rarely published.  He, however, faced his paradox in trying   to reach the black masses. Hughes had to be not radical but rather genteel and be more uplifting and sentimental as opposed to being aggressive.

Many of the sonnets portray the events and challenges faced by black communities through the 1920s and 1930s. The Great Depression of 1929, for example, was one of the most challenging times for the African American people.  These periods reminded the Black Americans that racial injustice was endemic and insurmountable. The use of art and poems greatly influenced the Harlem Riot of 1935, which ended the Harlem Renaissance. It was at this time, where poets such as Hughes would only write strict sonnets such as the “Ph.D.” (1932), “Pennsylvania Station” (1932), and “Search” (1937).

Conclusion

The Harlem Renaissance movement embraced literary, musical, and visual arts. The participants sought to reconceptualize the stereotypes that had influenced the Black American people to their heritage and each other. Many of the Harlem movement period poets use sonnets to address racism and inequality in the country. As much as many share the ideologies and structures, their poems are somehow different and use diverse methods to discuss the issues. However, the sonnets were of significant influence to the African American communities since they helped air the grievances and anger brought up by increased discrimination cases of African American individuals.