b. 1903d. 1946

Countee Cullen

One of the most distinctive voices of the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen's belief that art transcends race made his poetry popular with both black and white readers. Photo: Countee Cullen, photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1941, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Listen

For a Poet

Andrew Hallam, baritone; Kathryn Goodson, piano1:13

Andre Myers

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2021

Date

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Location

This recording was made possible by a grant from the University of Michigan, as part of the "Black Composer Speaks" Project.

“From the Dark Tower” (from “Three Countee Cullen Songs,” op. 27)

Megan Maloney, soprano; Kathryn Goodson, piano2:45

Robert Owens

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2021

Date

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Location

This recording was made possible by a grant from the University of Michigan, as part of the "Black Composer Speaks" Project.

“For a Poet” (from From the Dark Tower)

Daveda Karanas, mezzo-soprano; Michael Ippolito, piano; Karla Hamelin, cello3:34

Dorothy Rudd Moore

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

This recording was part of a 10am concert ("In Memorium – Dorothy Rudd Moore 1940–2022") on Saturday, October 15, 2022 during the 25th Anniversary African American Art Song Alliance Conference. The concert venue was Winifred Smith Hall at the University of California, Irvine.

“From the Dark Tower” (from From the Dark Tower)

Daveda Karanas, mezzo-soprano; Michael Ippolito, piano; Karla Hamelin, cello4:51

Dorothy Rudd Moore

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

“Youth Sings a Song of Rosebuds” (from “Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds, and Death”)

Lisa Edwards Burrs, soprano; Stacie Haneline, piano; Naima Burrs, violin3:51

Dorothy Rudd Moore

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

“For a Poet” (from “Cullen’s Trilogy”)

Phillip Harris, baritone; Amelia Hammond, piano2:19

Jacqueline Hairston

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

“Pagan Prayer” (from “Cullen’s Trilogy”)

Phillip Harris, baritone; Amelia Hammond, piano3:26

Jacqueline Hairston

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

“The Foolish Heart” (from “Cullen’s Trilogy”)

Phillip Harris, baritone; Amelia Hammond, piano1:54

Jacqueline Hairston

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

“Words of a Romance” (from “A Journey in Love”)

Jacob Lay, baritone; Eileen Downey, piano2:15

Khyle Wooten

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

To A Brown Girl, Dead

Daveda Karanas, mezzo-soprano; Michael Ippolito, piano1:57

Margaret Bonds

Composer

Countee Cullen

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2022

Date

University of California, Irvine, Winifred Smith Hall

Location

This recording was part of a 5:30pm concert ("A Salute to Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)") on Saturday, October 15, 2022 during the 25th Anniversary African American Art Song Alliance Conference. The concert venue was Winifred Smith Hall at the University of California, Irvine.

About

Cullen’s exact birthplace is unknown, but in 1918, at the age of 15, Countee LeRoy was adopted by Reverend Frederick A. Cullen, the minster to the largest church congregation in Harlem.

Cullen kept his finger on the pulse of Harlem during the 1920s while he attended New York University and then a graduate program at Harvard. His poetry became popular during his student years, especially his prize-winning poem “The Ballad of a Brown Girl.” In 1925, he published his first volume of poetry entitled Color. Within the next few years, Cullen became well-known, publishing several books and winning a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1928 (to write poetry in France).

At first, Cullen was critical of Langston Hughes’ poetry, writing that, in using jazz rhythms in his poetry, Hughes was erecting barriers between race instead of removing them. In his own poetry, Cullen sought to erase these boundaries and took traditionalist poets, such as Keats and A.E. Housman, as models for his own poetry. However, despite his criticisms of other black poets, the majority of Cullen’s own verses confront racial issues.

By the 1930s, Cullen’s influence had waned, though he continued to publish prolifically, including novels, a collection of poems for children, the autobiography of his cat, and an adaption of his novel God Sends Sunday into a Broadway musical.

–Christie Finn
Source: Poetry Foundation website

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