Langston Hughes's I, Too and Countee Cullen's
Incident
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: Langston Hughes's I, Too and Countee Cullen's Incident
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
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The poems, “I, Too” by Langston Hughes and “Incident” by Countee Cullen employ visual imagery, tone, literary
devices such as hyperboles, symbolism, and foreshadowing in different ways to illustrate the public life interaction
between two different races, and the private life of an African American’s internal struggle of not being able to
fight against the prejudice towards them. Both poets share racism as their piece of life, and although dealing with
racism is the central tension engaged in the poems, Cullen suggests that experiences can affect your view on life
and change your attitude. Hughes on the other hand, proposes that with an optimistic attitude you can change
the outcome of your future, and that your attitude is independent from past experiences.
“I, Too” and “Incident” are both are lyric poems. The “Incident” is more of a narrative that drifts on the past, while
the speaker in “I, Too” instead thinks about the plausible future. Hughes wrote a free verse poem, which is ideal
for envisioning the future because it leaves more flexibility for imagination. Cullen wrote a metrical verse poem –
alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimester – that consists of ballad stanzas to form an orderly
structure with patterns just as a storyline does. An abrupt contact of irrational abhorrence was what inspired the
“Incident”, while “I, Too” was inspired by racial segregation. The purpose of these poems was to see racism
through an optimistic point of view, which Hughes successfully conveyed, and through the perspective of an
innocent child, which Cullen had portrayed through his work. The poems are very typical, which is how the poets
are able to gain empathy from readers. The poets were able to construct a self for th...