Improvisation vs. Abstraction: Comparing the effects of the characteristics of jazz in the Harlem Renaissance to that of the Black Arts Movement
The jazz of the Harlem Renaissance and the jazz of the Black Arts Movements are both forms of art dedicated towards the expression of one's true emotions and self. More deeply, jazz from both these eras centered around giving voice to the trauma and pain felt by African Americans as a result of systemic racism all over the course of American history. In this way jazz from all across history shares the theme of love for one’s identity and of defying the traditionally white dominated status quo. But jazz, specifically jazz poetry between these two movements, do differ in some key ways. While it is true that the jazz of the Harlem Renaissance was quite revolutionary for its time due to its groundbreaking improvisational rhythms, it appears far less abstract, or even tame when compared to its counterparts of the Black Arts movement. In effect, the jazz of the Black Arts movement took improvisation to a whole new level, redefining more than just the words, but also the way the poetry and words were meant to be understood and read, allowing it to accomplish much more politically.
In the poem Cabaret, a famous piece from the Harlem Renaissance by Sterling Brown, the improvisation of early jazz is captured. The poem itself features unpredictable rhyme schemes and lines and stanzas which stop short of where traditional societally accepted European poems would. On a deeper level, Hughes, as an prominent black artist, uses his influence to call attention to social issues of time, something unheard of by most artists up to that point. His imagery of an authentic African American jazz musician who sits outside a cabaret as a white musician sits inside and claims the praise of jazz, leaving the black man, who has jazz in his cultural heritage, to wallow outside and struggle to be recognized. Hughes is able to juxtapose these two artists to convey the issue of creative theft and the continued oppression of African Americans by an encroaching white society. What’s more the author also calls attention to the immense destruction and sadness that disaffected the black communities of the Mississippi Delta during the 1920s as a result of a lack of support or relief amidst excessive flooding. In this way, the poem becomes a genuine expression of black emotion, predominantly frustration, for the constant obstacles in both music and life, which was common for most African Americans at the time. On a deeper level, this poem becomes a metaphor for a call to attention by the author Langston Hughes encouraging awareness among a broader society to take note of the oppression faced by black Americans.
The Black Arts movement and its poetry makes every possible effort to break artistic norms and shatter traditional standards, taking its political messaging much farther than the Harlem Renaissance. A prime example of this is the poem “a/coltrane/poem” by Sonia Sanchez. In more than just its content, but also through its form, the poem strives to entirely redefine the types of content which are acceptable in mainstream American poetry and artistic expression. Sonia Sanchez creates a form of poetry which is more true to the realities of life by including things which may have been considered impolite or improper to address in the past. Besides her use of curse words, she mentions topics such as sex and even calls out the injustice of society and the complicit upper class responsible for oppressing African Americans, even calling for public execution. Sonia Sanchez even manages to use the shape of the words in her poem to convey meaning or at least reference a relevant part of Black culture. In this case, Sonia Sanchez paints an image of a silouhette of a person out of letters (lots of “da’s”) arranged so that they appear as someone stomping within her poem. This drives home the point that black members of society are being pushed down by a society that doesn’t accept or approve of them or their forms of expression. As a result, not only does the Black Arts movement do a better job than the Harlem Renaissance at bringing light to social issues through its layered messaging but its ability to take these issues even further by expressing radical ideas confidently inspires others to be more vocal and take action. Specifically, her proposal of the execution of the bourgeoisie not only allows her to normalize freedom of expression in black art regardless of the risk of being perceived as graphic or anarchical, but also encourages sentiment for public outcry, leading to greater societal change.
Although both movements were essential to the prominence of black arts recognition and made effective progress in raising awareness of black culture, I find that Black Arts movement jazz poetry is able to accomplish more in terms of furthering progressive political ideology and awareness. Although Black Arts poetry can be difficult to decipher, this feature also makes it more complex and open to a wider array of interpretations which allows it to contain and express a deeper level of emotion and experience. Just as importantly, it has a greater potential of redefining artistic standards, more so than the free expression and improvisation of early Harlem Renaissance jazz. The abstract format experiments with the very standards which society has deemed acceptable, helping the reader to change their perception of art entirely. Even more, it is capable of calling attention to AND encouraging outcry to pressing social issues of the time. All in all, Black Arts jazz truly elevates the Harlem Renaissance’s progress to a whole new level, taking improvisation and turning it into an abstraction which is capable of more effectively capturing the essence of black art, emotion, and culture as a whole, thereby leading to a greater deal of progressive political change.
In the poem Cabaret, a famous piece from the Harlem Renaissance by Sterling Brown, the improvisation of early jazz is captured. The poem itself features unpredictable rhyme schemes and lines and stanzas which stop short of where traditional societally accepted European poems would. On a deeper level, Hughes, as an prominent black artist, uses his influence to call attention to social issues of time, something unheard of by most artists up to that point. His imagery of an authentic African American jazz musician who sits outside a cabaret as a white musician sits inside and claims the praise of jazz, leaving the black man, who has jazz in his cultural heritage, to wallow outside and struggle to be recognized. Hughes is able to juxtapose these two artists to convey the issue of creative theft and the continued oppression of African Americans by an encroaching white society. What’s more the author also calls attention to the immense destruction and sadness that disaffected the black communities of the Mississippi Delta during the 1920s as a result of a lack of support or relief amidst excessive flooding. In this way, the poem becomes a genuine expression of black emotion, predominantly frustration, for the constant obstacles in both music and life, which was common for most African Americans at the time. On a deeper level, this poem becomes a metaphor for a call to attention by the author Langston Hughes encouraging awareness among a broader society to take note of the oppression faced by black Americans.
The Black Arts movement and its poetry makes every possible effort to break artistic norms and shatter traditional standards, taking its political messaging much farther than the Harlem Renaissance. A prime example of this is the poem “a/coltrane/poem” by Sonia Sanchez. In more than just its content, but also through its form, the poem strives to entirely redefine the types of content which are acceptable in mainstream American poetry and artistic expression. Sonia Sanchez creates a form of poetry which is more true to the realities of life by including things which may have been considered impolite or improper to address in the past. Besides her use of curse words, she mentions topics such as sex and even calls out the injustice of society and the complicit upper class responsible for oppressing African Americans, even calling for public execution. Sonia Sanchez even manages to use the shape of the words in her poem to convey meaning or at least reference a relevant part of Black culture. In this case, Sonia Sanchez paints an image of a silouhette of a person out of letters (lots of “da’s”) arranged so that they appear as someone stomping within her poem. This drives home the point that black members of society are being pushed down by a society that doesn’t accept or approve of them or their forms of expression. As a result, not only does the Black Arts movement do a better job than the Harlem Renaissance at bringing light to social issues through its layered messaging but its ability to take these issues even further by expressing radical ideas confidently inspires others to be more vocal and take action. Specifically, her proposal of the execution of the bourgeoisie not only allows her to normalize freedom of expression in black art regardless of the risk of being perceived as graphic or anarchical, but also encourages sentiment for public outcry, leading to greater societal change.
Although both movements were essential to the prominence of black arts recognition and made effective progress in raising awareness of black culture, I find that Black Arts movement jazz poetry is able to accomplish more in terms of furthering progressive political ideology and awareness. Although Black Arts poetry can be difficult to decipher, this feature also makes it more complex and open to a wider array of interpretations which allows it to contain and express a deeper level of emotion and experience. Just as importantly, it has a greater potential of redefining artistic standards, more so than the free expression and improvisation of early Harlem Renaissance jazz. The abstract format experiments with the very standards which society has deemed acceptable, helping the reader to change their perception of art entirely. Even more, it is capable of calling attention to AND encouraging outcry to pressing social issues of the time. All in all, Black Arts jazz truly elevates the Harlem Renaissance’s progress to a whole new level, taking improvisation and turning it into an abstraction which is capable of more effectively capturing the essence of black art, emotion, and culture as a whole, thereby leading to a greater deal of progressive political change.
The idea that Black Arts jazz takes the improvisation of Harlem Renaissance jazz to abstraction to suggest a greater social change interests me. Both forms of poetry are far more complex than the first texts we read in this class. Throughout the history of African American literature, texts written by black people became more and more about uplifting the black community, expressing their feelings about the history of their discrimination in society, and spark social change. This is a great post!
ReplyDeleteI think your take on the Black Arts Movement Jazz poetry is interesting. The more refined and mainstream poetry of the Harlem Renaissance would strike me as a much easier way to enjoy Jazz poetry, but I think your opinion that the BAM Jazz poetry conveys its message much clearer is also totally valid. I think it has to do with the more direct and aggressive addressing of racial equality issues that the BAM poetry has which earlier forms lack; It's a really interesting way to compare the two eras.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! I thought your point about later jazz poetry having a "wider range of interpretations" was really interesting. You might think that that's a bad thing because it makes it harder to know if you got the poet's message, however I agree with you that it helps pack more ideas into one poem. This and the formatting the words to form an image are both examples of how later jazz poetry adds more layers to a similar basic structure to the earlier jazz poem. The structure of the poem progresses with the content to continue calling for further change towards acceptance and equality as time passes.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog. I think you did a great job of comparing and contrasting the two periods of black art. I thought the idea of the black arts movement being more about political change to be quite interesting, and it got me thinking about how social climates can change artistic movements.
ReplyDelete