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** Countee Cullen **
 *  [[image:http://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/imh/getty/full/2669082.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMMvl7ESepq84wtvhOLCmrlCepq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS width="160" height="254" align="middle"]]

[|Image found form Ebsohost] ||> ==Bio==


 * Countee Cullen** was born on March 30, 1903, but no one really knows where he was born. He was adopted in 1918 by Reverand Fredrick A. and Carolyn Belle (Mitchell) Cullen. His adoption was never official and he was known as Countee Porter until 1918, then in 1921 he becmae known as Countee P. Cullen. His father was a strong Catholic and established the Salem Methodist Episcipal Church.

He attended DeWitt Clinton Highh School from 1918-1921. He edited his schools newspaper and that's how he started getting in to poetry. He won his first contest with his poem, "I Have a Rendezvous with Life".

Cullen was an extremely good writer. He won many awards. Cullen was the first African American man to win the most prizes in the 1920's. Cullen was then married on April 9, 1928 to Yolande Du Bois. They had a very extranegent wedding in New York during the Harlem Rennisance. Sadly, they divorded two years later. Cullen then remarried only two years after that (1940).

During his time from the 1930's to his death in 1946, Cullen wrote many things. Aside from being a French teacher at Fredrick Douglas Junior High, he kept on writing. ||

Poetry links
[|The Wise] [|For a Poet] [|For A Lady] [|Yet Do I Marvel] [|Saturday's Child] [|The Loss of Love] [|Fruit of the Flower] [|Simon the Cyrenian Speaks] [|Youth Sings a Song of Rosebuds] ||
 * ||< [|Incident]

Explication
Explication of "Incident"



Countee Cullen's poem "[|The Loss of Love]" is about his heartbreak and pain when his love leaves him. Cullen does a good job of expressing the loneliness and emptiness of his loss.

The line "They lie who say that death is worth," beautifully states how he would rather have died then lose the woman he loves. It is heard all the time "I'd rather die!" but Cullen says it so poetically that it's not interpreted as overly dramatic, but loving and sweet. It shows very well how life does go on even when it seems impossible, or even undesired.



Sources
Early, Gerald. __About Countee Cullen's Life and Carrer.__ //The Oxford Companion to African American Literature.// 1997. 8 Dec. 2008 

“Countee Cullen.” __afropoets.net__ 2003-2007 8 Dec. 2008 