How I have met the course learning objectives:

• I continued developing strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
• I practiced key rhetorical terms and strategies by writing multiple drafts.
• I analyzed a variety of genres and rhetorical situations in reading.
• I learned how to cite sources in MLA format.

My Poetic Analysis Essay:

Kamilla Razhabova.

10/15/18.

FIQWS 10108 HA 16

Professor Poe

The Hidden Beauty.

In “To John Keats, Poet, at Springtime”, Countee Cullen draws attention to John Keats’ not
physical, but spiritual presence in Mother Earth’s creations, “Sap road of a maple tree, whose
leaves grow music as they grow, since your wild voice is in them…”(Cullen 29-31). Having
formed intense emotional connection to Keats, Cullen assimilates Keats’s perception of the
nature, “who, Cullen believes, felt Beauty most” (Woodruff 216), observing the exquisiteness of
the spring on his own and suggesting to look for Beauty “where we “least expect to hear her
hive”” (Woodruff 216). The mysterious bond established between Cullen and Keats appears
peculiar to the public but seems insignificant to the author himself because of his personal
realization about the hostile attitude towards sensitive people, especially dark people (Woodruff
214). The author’s skillful use of such literary devices, as personification, imagery, and similes
strengthens his disagreement with the minor role of nature’s beauty as well as portrays an intense
and unifying force of human connection.

Cullen’s allocation of human characteristics for the Spring known as the personification is used
to advance the nature’s role by portraying familiar concepts. In lines 9-10, Cullen mentions that
“Spring never was so fair and dear as Beauty makes her seem this year”, signifying his expanded
perception as a result of discovering John Keats’ poetry. John Keats has influenced Cullen with
his poetry in such a way that Cullen not only developed a new perspective on his surroundings
but redefined his interpretation of human interactions. Moreover, the portrayal of the spring as a
woman, “the dogwood petals cover Her breasts..”(Cullen 19-20), white gulls “hover over her
shoulders”(Cullen 21-22), “…kiss her cheek”(Cullen 22), shows its elegance, vitality and
sensuality associated with female energy. Also, human characteristics assigned to an object lead
to an indirect connection to Cullen’s feelings, as if placing the reader in his shoes. In spring, trees
start growing new leaves and flowering, symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings. Cullen
illustrates this period of renewal by using personification in line 24, “All things that slept are
now awake”.Thus, by using personification, Cullen conveys the beauty of the spring as a human
form, emphasizing its valuability.

The author’s strong influence on the audience is directly tied to the use of imagery, which aims
at establishing a deeper connection with the author by using five senses. The imagery present in
the first stanza, “the dogwood petals cover her breasts(Cullen 19-20)”, “white gulls fly
screaming to her..”(Cullen 21-22),”my head is earthward bowed”(Cullen 39) is aimed at
creating mental images in the reader’s mind, so that the reader is able to have a sensory
experience of the poem. Images either colorful or black and white summon emotions and
feelings that differ from those that individual experiences through uncombined words.“My head
is earthward bowed” symbolically represents John Keats’ presence in trees. Keats is also referred
to as a “Poor, troubled, lyric ghost” (Cullen 8) because of his emphasis on the beauty, especially
in nature, destined to perish in the consumeristic society. Cullen’s admiration of Keats’
developed and unlimited by social norms view stays sincere and rare despite the judgmental
gazes of “folks”(Cullen 43). Cullen refers to people as folks because of their contemptuous
attitude. So, imagery contributes to the development of the tone of the poem, shifting from
desperate to peaceful, encouraging the reader’s use of visualization.

Lastly, the author‘s comparison of two unrelated ideas stresses the author’s desperate and
hopeless state.“I am as helpless in the toil of spring as any lamb that bleats”(Cullen 14-15)
implies Cullen’s sense of hopelessness because of the beauty of new growing leaves and
blossoming flowers. His excitement leads to his disability to control his emotions which he
expresses by repeating “I cannot hold my peace, John Keats”(Cullen 1) in the first stanza. In
addition, Cullen illustrates Keats’s reunion with the Earth and transition into the beauty he had
seen in physical form and created in his poems, “Though dust, your fingers still can push, / The
Vision Splendid to a birth, / Though now they work as grass in the hush / Of the night on the
broad sweet page of the earth.”(Cullen 33-36).

Cullen successfully conveys the importance of recognizing the beauty of the world we live in
through his use of a variety of different literary devices. Conscious presence in every moment of
one’s life is not only crucial to one’s self-growth but also to the development of human
relationships. Keats’ poetry inspires Cullen to open up to new realizations that seem to greatly
affect his poetry and continue Keats’ struggle as an empathetic and mindful individual, hoping
for the change in degraded society.

Works cited:
Cullen, Countee.To John Keats, Poet, at Spring Time.
https://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/to-john-keats-poet-at-spring-time-by-countee-cullen/ 

Woodruff, Bertram L. “The Poetic Philosophy of Countee Cullen”. Phylon (1940 – 1956), Vol. 1,
No.3, pp. 214, 216.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/271989 . Accessed on Oct 10th, 2018.