Countee Cullen's life was wrought with hardship and pain from an early age. He was brought by who many historians consider to be his paternal grandmother to Harlem, New York at the age of nine. His grandmother raised him until he was 15 when she died. Shortly thereafter, he was adopted by a minister and his wife. His work - which was informed by his experiences in life (as well as the Harlem Renaissance, which was occurring as he was growing up) - is ultimately regarded as some of the most significant to come out of the early/mid 20th century.
Lines to My Father, which was initially published in 1927 as a part of Cullen's second collection of poetry entitled "Copper Sun," is no exception. Lines to My Father is an exploration of the history of African Americans and the history of slavery in the United States - particularly the history and emotions of multi-generational families that are slaves. To that end, Cullen's poem is told from the perspective of a slave whose ancestors were also slaves. In the poem, the slave looks back on their life and the lives of their ancestors with "storm, stress, and shock," as the poem says.
