Incident

A detailed Summary of Incident


The poem "Incident," by Countee Cullen, is one that could be described as a piece of Lyric Poetry. This is because it is a short poem that focuses in on the emotion of the poem, not the speaker or the event as much. Cullen shows how the happy feelings at the beginning of the poem change drastically to the hateful feelings at the end of the poem. After reading this poem, I found it very enjoyable, and containing a well-known theme.

The poem begins with, "Once riding in old Baltimore, / Heart-filled, / head-filled with glee/" It begins to describe someone who is riding into Baltimore for a trip of some sort, happy about his/or her arrival into town. Not long after that incident he/or she sees a boy starring straight at them as they are coming into town. "Now I was eight/and very small, / and he was no whit bigger/," this section of the poem shows that the person riding into Baltimore is a child and realizes that the child starring back at him is young as well and feels relaxed knowing that the


While reading this poem I felt as if this were occurring to me. Cullen describes the events so that the reader can fall into the character in the poem. I found the poem easy to read with the rhyme it contained, and also found it easy to understand and pick apart. "Incident" was written about the issue of racism, one that is world wide so anyone who picked this poem up to read could understand it.

Again "Incident" is primarily discussing the issue of racism in our lives. This poem proves that it can occur at any time in someone's life. The main character in this poem is eight years old and is riding in to Baltimore for a trip. While arriving he sees another young boy about the same age and size as him, and decides to give the boy a friendly gesture by smiling. In return to this the young Baltimorean sticks out his tongue and calls the other "Nigger." This occurrence stuck with the main character throughout his entire stay in Baltimore, and even though he stayed for months...that incident

Some common words found in the essay are:
Baltimore/ December, Lyric Poetry, riding baltimore, Countee Cullen, issue racism, well-known theme poem, riding baltimore trip, , baltimore trip, reading poem, poem read, theme poem, poem found, main character, boy starring, character poem,

Approximate Word count = 676
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

join now Save Paper

Related Essays

  • Incident at Ogala The director of the two films, ampquotIncident at Ogalaampquot and ampquotThunderheartampquot, is trying to release evidence of the largely corrupt justice system of the American ... 595 words
  • Incident Report Once there lived a young bozi boe by the name of rachele. Rachele was a very curious and out going Bozi and she loved to explore and try new things. ... 623 words
  • The Incident at Bhopal ... Approximately 1,600 animals died on the first and second days after the incident. This was a terrible environmental health risk. ... 1857 words
  • Incident At Vichy Title: Incident at Vichy Playwright: Arthur Miller 1915 Publisher: The Viking Press in 1965 Production History: First performed on December 3, 1964 at the ... 929 words
  • Watergate Incident In the month of June 1972, an incident took place that would carry severe consequences for President Nixon and his closest advisers. ... 533 words

Professional Essays

  • USS Greer Incident of WWII USS Greer Incident Since the German U boat opened torpedo fire on the USS Greer without any warning at all while she was sailing in the North Atlantic, the ... 476 words
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime Introduction The fifteenyear old narrator of The Curious Incident, Christopher Boone, experiences many ... 947 words
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime Introduction The fifteenyear old narrator of The Curious Incident, Christopher Boone, experiences many ... 947 words
  • Congressional Oversight in the Waco Incident Congressional Oversight in the Waco Incident The Committee on Government Reform and Oversight ampquotthe Committeeampquot was created for the specific purpose of ... 3174 words
  • Public Relations Incident Medical The heparin administered was 1,000 times the prescribed dose10,000 units instead of the prescribed 10 unitsand the incident mirrored a similar error that ... 1069 words
  • 1989 Tiananmen Square Incident The purpose of this research is to examine intercultural communication patterns surrounding the incident in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, from the point ... 2738 words


Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

  • "Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
    Jack M.
  • "With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
    Brian P.
  • "I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
    Sara J.
  • "I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
    Rachel W.
  • "I love this site!!!"
    Marie N.
Home Join Now Support
Acceptable Use Policy About us FAQ
All papers are for research and reference purposes only!
© 2002-2009 DirectEssays.com. All Rights Reserved.