Incident

Incident

Once riding in old Baltimore,

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a Baltimorean

Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,

And he was no whit bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked out

His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore

From May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

That's all that I remember.

-Countee Cullen


In Incident, Cullen tells the story of going to Baltimore as a young boy, and on the way there, another boy his age calls him the "N" word. He is in Baltimore for the better part of a year, and that was the most significant incident to him. He is saying that this incident preceded his entire trip to Baltimore, and that that was what the rest of is stay there was essentially like. 


Incident shows negro heritage and history, in the sense that this was how many blacks were treated in public. There was a severe lack of respect for blacks outside of Harlem, and everyone knew it. Whites felt that they had a certain right to treat blacks poorly, despite their age or intentions.


Cullen uses rhyme in his poem, seen when the last words of the first and last lines rhyme. This is probably the most common poetic device used among poets, especially during the Harlem Renaissance. There are few poems from this time period that did not use rhyme.


When I first saw this poem, I decided I wanted to use it because I felt that the subject of Incident was completely relevant to some of the issues of the Harlem Renaissance. I also chose it because Countee Cullen was one equal to Langston Hughes as far as fame and writing skill goes. He writes beautifully, and knows exactly how to get his message and thoughts across.