"Incident" by Countee Cullen

COUNTEE CULLENHis life story is

essentially a tale of youthful and

talent of a star that flashed across the

Afro-American firmament and

then sank toward the horizon. When

his paternal grandmother and guardian died in

1918,

IT WAS A HUGE PROBLEM IN THE 1920 WHEN COUNTEE CULLEN WROTE THE POEM "

This poem talks about the racism .

The poem has in the past and present the same huge effect in the readers for its feature that make it influential.

Once riding in old Baltimore,Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a BaltimoreanKeep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,And he was no white bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked outHis tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.'

I saw the whole of BaltimoreFrom May until December;

Of all the things that happened thereThat's all that I remember.

TEXTUAL FEATURES (PERPECTIVE)Once riding in old Baltimore,

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a BaltimoreanKeep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,And he was no white bigger,And so I smiled, but he poked

outHis tongue, and called me,

'Nigger.'

I saw the whole of BaltimoreFrom May until December;

Of all the things that happened there

That's all that I remember.

First person perspective

Second person

perspective

TEXTUAL FEATURE (PERSPECTIVE)The addresser is the first person

The addressee is unidentified yet the readers fill this position

TEXTUAL FEATURE (DEICTIC)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 white 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 thereThat's all that I remember.

Place deictics

Time deictics

Personal deictics

TEXTUAL FEATURE:Direct speech

“ Nigger” which a boy said to the speaker, to shock the readers.Language:

It has straightforward and direct informal language with switching in meaning from happiness in the first stanza to rage and sadness in the second and third stanzas.

TEXTUAL FEATUREGrammar

Past tenseOmitting unnecessary words:

“Once riding in old Baltimore”,Once while I was riding the bus

TEXTUAL FEATUREVocabulary:

(1The sentences fill with adjective(2repetition:

Once riding in old Baltimore,Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,

I saw a BaltimoreanTitle (Incident):

to make the reader curious and enthusiastic about the topic in the period has many issues and incidents.

TEXTUAL FEATUREOnce 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 white bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked outHis tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.'

I saw the whole of BaltimoreFrom May until December;

Of all the things that happened thereThat's all that I remember

•Structure:It is regular with three stanzas, each one has four lines.

POETIC DEVICESOnce riding in old Baltimore, A

Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, BI saw a Baltimorean C

Keep looking straight at me B.

Now I was eight and very small,And he was no white bigger,

And so I smiled, but he poked outHis tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.'

I saw the whole of BaltimoreFrom May until December;

Of all the things that happened thereThat's all that I remember

the material lines are

ABCB

ALLITERATION IN THE SOUND

Rhyme

POETIC DEVICESFigure of speech:

Metaphor:"nigger", that show more insult than says "black boy" to

make it more strong and efficient to shock the readers.Hyperbole:

"From May until December; of all the thing that happened there,

That's all that I remember“.The speaker uses this kind of figure of speech to show how he feels by exaggerating to convey the meaning to the readers.

INTERTEXTUAL:This incident was when

he is riding a bus,racism and busses

these two subjects are marking you wonder about Rosa Parks?

Do you think the poem references her in some way?

Sorry, if you're thinking this, you are wrongRosa Parks staged her

famous act of civil disobedience on a bus in 1955, 30 years after

the publication of "Incident”

Thank you for liseningMade by: Nada Nasser

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