Incident by Countee Cullen

Literary Appreciation #1- “Incident” by Countee Cullen

“Incident”, is a poem that was written to make us as readers think, not only about racism but also about how one occasion can allow us to judge a race, or a place. Racism is an issue that plagues not only African-Americans but also other creeds, genders, and races. In this essay I will discuss the poem and the role that racism took within it, by using personal knowledge, the text, and obtained research.

The poem in its self takes on a rhyme scheme that allows you the reader to feel the narrator, so that you can not only imagine that you were there, but you can also almost gather the same feelings as the narrator. In the begin he talks about how he first rode through Baltimore happy, and filled with glee. Until he spoke to a stranger politely and the stranger poked out his mouth and calls him/her a nigger. In this event he states towards the end of the poem, “I saw the whole of Baltimore from May until December; of all the things that happen there that’s all that I remember”. It took that one event to leave an impression about Baltimore that was unforgettable. And no matter how nice the remainder of his/her stay the event was imprinted in their mind.

Is it true that one “incident” can