Tableau

Rhys Green

Parkinson

English IIIB

7 March 2016

Poetry during the Harlem Renaissance joined the ideas of poetry and activism to bring certain progressive to 
light. People from all walks of life were immersed in the Renaissance. This fact brought more attention to the causes that the authors and activists were trying to bring to light. Poets like Countee Cullen challenged the norm in hopes that adversity would be challenged head on and would eventually change. Cullen’s poem “Tableau” challenges the idea of segregation, “locked in arm they cross the way the black boy and the white... / the dark folk stare and here the fair folk talk”(2-6). Cullen places his characters in situations that aren’t the norm to challenge the ideals of the times and to bring to light the injustices that are occurring. Cullen shows us how to bring about change in a subtle, unique way and shows us how to reach a broad audience.