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By Countee Cullen. (For Eric Walrond) Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean. Keep looking straight at me. Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger, And so I smiled, but he poked out.
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‘Incident’by Countee Cullen is a memorable poem that describes a cruel incident from the poet’s youth. This poem begins with the speakerdescribing how he was eight years old and riding around Baltimore. He was thrilled to be there and felt glee at everything he saw. He noticed someone in the city, a Baltimorean, staring at him. He notes that this o...
Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of essential themes like: 1. Racism: is the most important theme at work within the short poem. Interestingly, until the other child uses a racial slur, the speaker’s race does not come into play. The gleeful, youthful speaker is taking pleasure in seeing Baltimore for the first time, and rather than exchang...
This poem recalls a cruel incident from the poet’s childhood. As a young boy of only eight years old, he was addressed with a racial slur by another child while happily exploring a new city. The poem suggests that casual racism, such as that demonstrated by the child who was not “a whit” bigger than the speaker, is common. The poem implies that the...
‘Incident’ by Countee Cullen is a ballad that is divided into three four-line stanzas, known as quatrains. The even-numbered lines rhyme, and the odd-numbered lines do not rhyme in each stanza. This creates a rhyme scheme of ABCB (the traditional pattern used in ballads). The poem is also written in ballad or hymn meter. This means that the lines a...
Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to: 1. Juxtaposition: can be seen through the poet’s use of intentionally contrastingimages. For example, the Baltimorean’s cruel address to the young speaker and the speaker’s previous description of himself as filled with glee. 2. Enjambment: o...
Stanza One
In the first stanza of this poem, the speaker provides readers with small details about the setting. The stanza is only four lines long, but readers can easily imagine someone, later described as an eight-year-old boy, riding in a car in Baltimore. His heart and head are both filled with “glee.” Here, the poet beings the poem with a light-hearted and joyful tone. At first, readers expect to be exposed to a happy narrative of a child seeing a new city for the first time. But, there is a compel...
Stanza Two
The speaker, commonly interpreted as the poet himself, was only eight years old and “very small.” These details help readers imagine an innocent and youthful boy who, by no stretch of the imagination, poses a threat. The child he saw staring at him, the Baltimorean, was “no whit bigger.” This should, again, unite the two boys. They are both in the same city, around the same age, and about the same size. But, when the speaker smiles at this other child, he “poked out / His tongue, and called m...
Stanza Three
The final lines are deeply sad and present a very different image of the speaker from that which readers were introduced to. At first, he was filled with glee in both his head and heart, to visit the city of Baltimore. But, at the end of his trip, when looking back on all the things that happened there from May to December, this one incident is “all that I remember.” This suggests that racist attitudesand policies are not just economically and socially impactful but have a wide-ranging impact...
Readers who enjoy this poem should also consider exploring some other Countee Cullen poetry. For example: 1. ‘From the Dark Tower’ – isa thoughtful poem about the Black experience. It suggests that there is a brighter future on the horizon. 2. ‘Hey, Black Child’ – isa moving and memorable poem that is directed to and dedicated to all the black chil...
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- October 9, 1995
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- “Incident” Summary. One time, while riding around old Baltimore, my heart and head overflowing with happiness, I noticed that there was someone from the city who kept staring right at me.
- “Incident” Themes. Racism and Lost Innocence. The poem's speaker recalls an “incident” from a childhood trip to Baltimore in which another little boy calls him the n-word.
- Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Incident” Lines 1-2. Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, The poem begins with the speaker "riding through old Baltimore."
- “Incident” Symbols. The Baltimorean. The Baltimorean represents racist society in general. Though the speaker is describing a very specific moment here, the whole "incident" can be thought of as the speaker's painful introduction to the harsh reality of racial prejudice.
His tongue and called me, “Nigger.”. I saw the whole of Baltimore. From May until December: Of all the things that happened there. That’s all that I remember. From Caroling Dusk (Harper & Brothers, 1927), edited by Countee Cullen. This poem is in the public domain. Incident - Once riding in old Baltimore,
Incident Lyrics. Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee, I saw a Baltimorean. Keep looking straight at me. Now I was eight and very small, And he was no whit bigger,
Analysis: “Incident”. In “Incident,” Countee Cullen relies on diction, juxtaposition, and irony to represent the impact of racism on a Black child’s identity formation. The poem is a narrative in which the overall movement is from innocence to knowledge and from joy to pain. In the first stanza, the speaker sets the tone through ...
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