Incident Poem Analysis

Thesis: Countee Cullen’s Incident is an apparent example of literary understatements; the title itself suggests the effectiveness of this literary device and how it revives the prominent period of racial discrimination, especially in America.

I.                   The speaker’s interaction with the Baltimorean highlights the critical racial difference that is the underlining evidence to how this poem relates to racial discrimination.

A.    “Heart-filled, head-filled with glee” (Cullen 2). The speaker is overcome by innocence since the phrase of “heart-filled, head-filled” provides a shadowy, innocent perception he has towards this Baltimorean child.

B.     “Now I was eight and very small, / And he was no whit bigger” (Cullen 5-6). Cullen introduces this line to illustrate the clear childlikeness in the black child and Baltimorean’s ages. As a result of the young ages, the black child’s perception is shrouded in his innocence since is also “heart-filled, head-filled”, and cannot grasp the underlining subject within this poem.

II.                The Baltimorean’s racial slur introduces the overall concept in this poem; by shadowing the infamous racial discrimination in the title, the author is able to utilize the power of understatements to form a consensus among the readers.

A.    “And so I smiled, but he poked out / His tongue, and called me, ‘Nigger’” (Cullen 7-8). The white child’s slur makes the speaker aware of how much larger the differences really are between them. The slur makes it possible that racial harmony now seems impossible due to the white child’s contempt and the black child’s feelings of otherness. The myth of the harmony between the Baltimorean and the speaker, presented in “glee” of the speaker, has been shattered by racism, thus offering this problematic situation to the world. By using this specific example, and by shrouding the true meaning of racism in the title, Cullen successfully utilized this understatement in order to effectively make a distinction between white and black individuals in regards to the period of racial discrimination.