we come and go

Heritage Countee Cullens
The Lovesong of Alfred J Prufrock T.S. Eliot



Walking out of class after discussing Eliot and Cullen left me with the sense that I was supposed to have taken a side and stuck with it; which poem is more American? Which is more effective? Which is better?

As the discussion began, I was immediately under the impression of two things: One, a reader’s being discouraged by the complex language or ambiguity of a poem seriously affects their ability to enjoy it. Two, enjoying a poem isn’t exactly the point. Although poetry theoretically should be an agreeable experience, a writer’s goal is not to please his or her readers (the world of literature would be a very disappointing realm if this was not the case). Similarly, a reader’s failure to instantly grasp what a poet says is not always an indication of a poem’s quality.
Therefore, rather than pledge loyalty to one poet, I opt instead to consider the purpose of poetry and how each man accomplishes that.

Cullen is clearly committed to viewing the world through the spectacles of race; he can hardly help it. There is nothing wrong with this except that racially-centered writing has an intrinsic appeal to less people. Eliot, on the other hand, asks much broader questions of existence but does so in a bizarre context that is more challenging to navigate; in this way, he creates potential to turn off his readers very quickly.

Both ask questions of the individual living in a society of prejudices, whether they are based on race, age, disability, poverty or sex. Both approach the individual’s predicament in completely rational ways; in either case, the individual experiences a sense of abandonment from the inside of a compliance culture. As society’s manners of viewing and judging its members changes, one’s perspective of self accordingly adjusts. Eliot asks universal questions in the first place, but Cullen’s question of the individual is poised in such a way that it surpasses the narrow focus of Africa and extends to the universal self. The difference here is that Cullen deals with one’s sensitivity to cultural roots; Eliot’s focus is on age. Both handle the question of how one fits into one’s surroundings, functioning as one part of many.

We as readers should be able to relate to both poems; perhaps a person who has experienced racism directly is drawn more to Cullen. Perhaps familiarity with a crisis of age catches the attention of another. Whichever poem you relate to, it asks the same thing;
Who are you? What are your surroundings? And: Do you dare to be that person in that place?