Heritage Flashcards
by Countee Cullen — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: Heritage
What is the central question of 'Heritage'?
'What is Africa to me?' — the speaker asks what his African ancestry means to him as a Black American three centuries removed from Africa.
When and where was 'Heritage' published?
It was published in 1925 in Countee Cullen's debut collection Color.
How long is the full poem?
The complete poem is 128 lines, making it the longest poem in Color.
What poetic form does 'Heritage' use?
Rhyming couplets with a driving, drum-like rhythm that mirrors the African drums described in the poem.
What images does the speaker use to describe Africa?
Copper sun, scarlet sea, jungle stars, strong bronzed men, regal Black women, spicy groves, cinnamon trees, and great drums.
What does 'One three centuries removed' mean?
The speaker is roughly three hundred years removed from Africa due to the Atlantic slave trade.
What tension does the poem explore?
The tension between the speaker's ancestral African heritage and his Western Christian present — he can neither fully claim nor fully reject either identity.
How does the poem address Christianity?
The speaker questions whether a white Christ can truly serve Black Americans and imagines a dark-skinned savior who shares his experience.
What does the refrain accomplish?
The recurring question 'What is Africa to me?' gains new emotional weight with each repetition, shifting from curiosity to longing to anguish.
How does the couplet form reinforce the content?
The relentless rhyming couplets create a drum-like beat that mimics the African drums the speaker cannot stop hearing.
Why has the portrayal of Africa been debated?
Critics debate whether Cullen perpetuates Western stereotypes of Africa as exotic and primitive, or deliberately transforms those stereotypes from within.
What does 'plighting troth' mean?
Making a pledge of faithfulness, as in a marriage vow — the forest lovers are pledging themselves to each other.
What does 'dark heathen heart' suggest?
An ancestral, pre-Christian spiritual identity within the speaker that persists despite his Western upbringing.
How does 'Heritage' compare to Hughes's approach?
Hughes celebrates African heritage with confidence and pride, while Cullen interrogates it with more conflict about what Africa means to him.
What does the jungle drum imagery symbolize?
The inescapable pull of African heritage — the speaker tries to block them out but cannot, suggesting ancestry transcends conscious choice.
What literary movement is this poem central to?
The Harlem Renaissance — it directly confronts the central question of Black American identity and African diaspora consciousness.
What does 'Juggernauts of flesh' describe?
Massive jungle animals trampling through the grass — an image of Africa's raw natural power.
Why is the poem considered the centerpiece of Color?
It is the longest, most ambitious poem in the collection and most directly addresses the themes of race, identity, and heritage that define the book.
What makes the speaker's position paradoxical?
He romanticizes an Africa he has never seen while living in a Western society he cannot fully belong to — caught between two worlds.
What audience did Cullen write for?
Cullen wanted to reach both Black and white audiences, using traditional Western poetic forms to make his exploration of Black identity accessible.