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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Art>or, Michigan 48106 75-19,462 KWS«r, Dellita, Martin, 1946- , SELECTED F0S4S OF NICOLAS GUILLEN AND LANGSTON HUGHES: IHEIR USE OF AFRO-WESTERN FOLK MUSIC GENRES. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1975 Language and Literature, modem Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan48ioe Copyright by Dellita Martin Lowery 1975 SELECTED POEMS OF NICOLAS GUILLEN AND LANGSTON HUGHES: THEIR USE OF AFRO-WESTERN FOLK MUSIC GENRES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Dellita Martin Lowery, B.A., M.A. «****. The Ohio State University 1975 Reading Committee: Approved by Dr. Martha M. Frosch Dr. Margarita Levisi ___________ C\//) ii/l Dr. Patrick B. Mullen Adviser Department of Romance Languages ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have had a part in the outcome of this dissertation. First of all I am grateful to Professor Martha M. Frosch, my advisor and mentor, who believed in me and in the value of research; to Professors Margar­ ita Levisi, Patrick Mullen, O.R. Dathorne and E. Ojo Arewa for their thoughtful and properly demanding critical eval­ uation of the topic during various stages; to the Grad­ uate School of The Ohio State University for allowing me several quarters of off-campus research so that I might have access to much-needed, additional materials; and to the librarians of The Ohio State University, of the Universities of California at Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Berkeley and San Diego, as well as those of the Pasadena and Los Angeles county systems, for the courtesies and services extended to me. I am especially indebted to my husband, J.C. Lowery, whose love, patience and understanding made it possible for me to commute cross country in order to com­ plete the Ph.D. progrem; to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wellie Martin, other family members and friends, who helped me in so many tangible and intangible ways through five and a half long years; and to Mrs. Jane Ott, 11 a remarkable typist and a wonderful person. Most of all I thank God for providing me with the faith, endurance and willpower to finish such an arduous task. Ill VITA October 21, 1946 ......... Born - New Orleans, Louisiana 1967 ..................... Instituto de Estudios Ibero- Americanos, Saltillo, Mexico 1968 ..................... B.A., Louisiana State University, New Orleans, Louisiana (Spanish Award) 1969-70 .................. University Fellowship, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1970-73 .................. Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1971 ..................... M.A., The Ohio State Univer­ sity, Columbus, Ohio 1974 ..................... Dissertation Fellowship, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major; Spanish Literature Latin America— Prof. Martha M. Frosch Minor: French Contemporary Literature IV CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................... Ü VITA .................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ......................................... 1 Chapter I I. Folklore; Some Basic Concepts and Definitions ................................. 9 II. Traditional Music in West Africa ........... 27 II III, Afro-Cuban Folk Music: The Rumba and the Son ................................. 42 IV. Motivos de son (1930) ....................... 57 V. Sdngoro Cosongo (1931) ...................... 88 VI. West Indies Ltd. (1934) ............... 121 III VII. Afro-American Folk Music: 1 4 2 The Blues and Jazz ......................... VIII. The Weary Blues (1926) ....... 163 IX. Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927) ............. 190 X. Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951) ......... 220 IV XI. Comparison of Nicolds Guillen and Langston Hughes ........................ 251 CONTENTS (Cont'd) Page CONCLUSION .......................................... 262 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................ 264 VI INTRODUCTION Nicolâs Guillen (b. 1902 in Camagüey, Cuba) and James Langston Hughes (b. 1902 in Joplin, Missouri; d. 1967 in New York) are two black poets of prolific liter­ ary activity who wrote within the larger context of var­ ious early twentieth-century movements. According to Adriana Tous, World War I broke up the European cultural tradition, a disintegration evident in the cult of "ismos" in the arts.^ In Europe "primitivisme" was one aspect of the cultural revolution, while its Latin American counter­ part was "indigenismo." In the Caribbean the indigenist 2 movement was known as the "tendencia negrista." Fur­ thermore, in the United States the trend called "negro- philism" corresponded with "primitivisme." In short, all these terms referred to a preoccupation with things black, or of African origin, by those European and American 3 artists who felt that Western civilization was declining. In the Caribbean, especially the Antilles, "negris- mo" was associated with an interest in folkloric tradition. For example, in Cuba writers like Marceline Arozarena, Emilio Ballagas, Alejo Carpentiér, Nicolas Guillen, Ramon Guirao and José Z. Tallet were all part of the movement. 2 called Afro-Cubanism, which is said to have "... com­ bined primitivism— a celebration of the spontaneity and vitality of the Cuban negro— with sencillismo of lan- 4 guage." Like the other poets, Nicolâs Guillén expresses the mood of the era by utilizing the rumba and the son, two dance forms of the African-based oral tradition in Cuba, as poetic genres. Although initially thrilled with experimentation, Guillén eventually transforms the son into a polished literary vehicle of social protest. Con­ sequently, the son becomes the expression of Cuban as well as universal attitudes, sentiments, and aspirations. In this study we shall focus on selected poems from three of Guillén's collections: Motivos de son (1930), Sdngoro Cosongo (1931), and West Indies Ltd. (1934). Specifically, the poems will be examined in light of their illustration of various African-derived musical elements. In the United States Harlem was the main focal point of the black arts. The "Harlem Renaissance," or the "Negro Renaissance," is the term used to define the flowering of creative energy among the black writers of the 1920's.^ Also related to it is the designation the "New Negro," one coined by Dr. Alain Locke in The New Negro (1925), a kind of cultural manifesto of black artists and scholars. The oral culture that had evolved from the time of slavery provided the inspiration for numerous authors of the period, among them Sterling Brown, Countee Cullen, Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer and James Weldon Johnson.® Langston Hughes, the second poet which we shall consider in this dissertation, began writing dur­ ing the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes captures the mood of the "Jazz Age," as the 1920*s were called, by reproducing the blues and jazz, vocal and instrumental counterparts of the African-inspired oral tradition, in poetic form. Like Guillen, Hughes's initial endeavors are more or less euphoric experiments. Nevertheless, he gradually refines the genres and would also employ them as universal instru­ ments of social protest. In Hughes's case, we shall con­ sider selected poems from The Wearv Blues, (1926), Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), and Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951). Again the focus will be on the presence of African- based musical components in the poems. There are several reasons why a comparison of Guillen and Hughes is worthwhile. The first and most ob­ vious is their similar use of the above-mentioned oral forms as poems.