History
During the early 1990's, middle class African Americans began writing about racial equality in Harlem, New York. They began a cultural movement that focused on racial pride and social integration. Some common themes were the influence of slavery, institutional racism and writing for white audiences. Its span was from 1919 until the 1930's but many ideas still lived on after the movement was over. The Harlem Renaissance was known as the “New Negro Movement” named after the 1925 anthology by Alian Locke. The New Negro was defined as exhibiting racial pride through intellect and the production of art, literature and music. The most notable figures in the Harlem Renaissance movement included Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Countee Cullen.
Analysis
“Oblivion” by Jessie Redmon Fauset is a poem that the author exhibits a deep connection between life and death. The author is surrounded by sadness and depression. The mood of the poem is dealing with her feelings of wanting to be dead and her overwhelming feeling of sadness within herself. The feelings of sadness have overshadowed the authors purpose for living so she no longer sees the joy in life but only the potential happiness in death. The poem connects back to the Harlem Renaissance when she battles with her feelings of self worth and the struggle to find peace and pride within herself.
Literary Devices
Paradox- The entire poem shows examples of a paradox. The line ‘’there lying I should taste with my dead breath the utter lack of life, the fullest sense of death” is a contradictory statement because she mentions lying with a taste while being dead as if you are aware and conscious while after death. The author uses this paradox to guide the reader into seeing the deeper meaning behind the poem. All paradox's do not follow logic so it is easy for a writer to uses words to get the reader more interested in the work.