Critical Comment on ‘Incident’ by Countee Cullen
The poem, ‘Incident’ is written by African-American poet Countee Cullen. Through this paper, I shall critically comment on various aspects of the poem such as the rhyme scheme, tone, structure and theme of the poem.
The poem is very meticulously structured . It has a rhythm to it and alternate lines have the same metre. There is a particular rhyme scheme, that is ‘abcb; defe; gehe’. The tone of the poem seems to be casual and yet slightly melancholic. The speaker of the poem seems to be narrating an incident from his/her childhood that had a major impact on him/her.
The first stanza is quite upbeat and seems to project the innocent happiness of a child. The words ‘heart-filled’ and ‘head-filled’ bring about the repetition of the word ‘filled’ for emphasis of the extent of glee experienced by the speaker of the poem.
The second stanza is more descriptive of the characters present in the poem. It speaks of the speaker’s attempt to be friendly with a child his age, only to be severely shocked by an unnatural response from the child. The child sticks out his tongue and calls the speaker a ‘nigger’.
In the third stanza, the speaker talks of how the impact of the child’s behaviour was so extensive that in spite of looking around Baltimore for eight months, the only incident he/she remembers is that of the child’s hostility.
Countee Cullen tries to show through the poem how one’s experiences during childhood have a huge effect while still a child and upon growing up too. He writes how children perceive racism, the effect it has on them and how it is an unforgettable experience to be discriminated against.