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“I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane Analysis

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In the literary realism movement, we have a great deal of authors and their novels doing some heavy lifting. In today’s post, a poem titled “I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane will do the work.

Analysis of “I saw a man pursuing the horizon”

In the first stanza of the poem, Crane discusses seeing a man “pursuing the horizon.” For what purpose, we are yet to be sure. But, we know that as he watched the man, he goes “round and round,” speeding toward the destination.

Yet, the man’s strange pursuit “disturbed” the speaker. So, he engages the man. He tells him, “‘It is futile,'” I said, / ‘You can never–‘” Then the man cries, “You lie!” and runs on toward the horizon.

In this brief poem, Crane epitomizes a few things as it relates to human error. First, the poem addresses humanity’s fascination with futility. That is to say, even if something is not worth pursuing because it is hopeless, humanity has a way to strive straight for it head first. Second, Crane points out that no matter if humanity is confronted by their own ignorance, there narrowmindedness is so strident that even the obvious could not deter them.

Crane writes “round and round” not because the man is making a beeline toward the horizon. Rather that he is trapped in a desert loop, forever hunting for the horizon. It is in this realization that we understand the mocking nature that man must presume he is near when laboring under delusions. In “I saw a man pursuing the horizon,” Crane is letting his cynicism outward into the light. In other words, humanity will have their joyous ending whether it is there or not, and whether it kills them in following it or not.

The poem fits the literary realism only in its pessimistic view of humanity. It is certainly a view fellow literary realist writer Mark Twain would agree with. The desperate nature for humans to get what they want is unquenchable in Crane’s eyes. That does ring true if one considers historical accounts of bad decisions and outright irrational behavior for something as grand as catching the horizon.

Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. “I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon.” The Red Badge of Courage, Dover Publications, 1997, pp. 171-172.

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A Look at the Era of Literary Realism and its Authors

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We have looked at a lot of movements on this blog, but today we look at the era of literary realism. We have even discussed writers from this particular era, so it’s high-time to see what these realistic writers were up during the time of the American Civil War.

The Roots of the Movement

As we see so often from movements, artistic and otherwise, there can be a good deal of push-back from creators who were too young to contribute to the previous movement or just had no interest in creating in a style they didn’t like (the modernists, for example). Similarly, the realism movement exploded at the end of the Romantic period as the writers of this era wanted to depict a less glamorized world.

Thus, the “realism” aspect of the era itself is derived from authors avoiding a romantic view of the world. They wanted to show people living and breathing in a natural environment as honestly as possible.

Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favor of a close observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations.

(Britannica)

If you look closely, it is actually fairly hard to distinguish literary realism from naturalism for the above reasons. However, keep in mind that conveying a real view of the world is essential for these writers, so more honest dialogue and setting were common in the books that appeared in the late 19th century.

Additionally, after the Civil War, the US advanced in numerous ways that included a more literate populace, increased urbanization, and a larger population, and this, “provided a fertile literary environment for readers interested in understanding these rapid shifts in culture,” (Campbell).

Important Authors of Realism

The genre was much defined by the author’s works and their attempts to interpret the world around them. Honore de Balzac, for instance, attempted to give an “encyclopaedic portrait of the whole range of French society …” (Britannica). Meanwhile, the genre did not fully develop until later in the 1860s and 1870s. These authors included Charles Dickens, George Elio, Leo Tolstoy, and William Dean Howells.

Some novels from the realism movement include:

  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Works Cited

Campbell, Donna M. “Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890.” Literary Movements. Washington State University. Sept. 7th, 2015. Web.

“What is Literary Realism? Definition and Examples of the Realism Genre in Literature.” Masterclass. Aug. 15, 2019. Web.

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Four Crucial Blogging Tips to Make a Successful Blog

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There is something liberating about frequently publishing posts, as feeling productive and actually being productive work in tandem. Yet, when blogging, it’s difficult to know how to use that productivity. Blogging tips or can help (like understanding the writing process), but a blogging tip should be useful; so, practicality comes into play as well, and practical problem-solving methods are the way to go. Exercises, ideas, and tangible concepts to get everybody moving on the right path. In today’s post, we have assembled some blogging tips and ideas that help you in your blog-writing journey.

Blogging Tips

Tip 1:  Conduct Some Usability Tests

Before you publish your immaculately designed blog, consider performing a few usability tests to improve quality, interface, and user retention. Usability Testing is a fairly simple concept: it asks the designer (or blogger, in your case) to set up a series of one-on-one tests with multiple participants (strangers, preferably) over a small timeframe in order to watch as they interact with your website.  

Authors Don Norman and Steve Krug are big into this UX (user experience) idea. Both of their books on these ideas are excellent as well: The Design of Everyday Things and Rocket Surgery Made Easy. There are two more blogging tips for you, free of charge.

You as the designer decide upon the questions or tasks, but really think about your blog: What is your goal? Where are things located? Is everything easy to find? Can users navigate your blog easily?

Some example questions while conducting a test include:

  • Where would you find the ‘contact’ information?
  • If you wanted to know where the author was, could you find them?
  • Where are the archives and can you tell me where the most recent post is?

You really want the subject to speak aloud while they work through your questions and you should probably record the conversation or take thorough notes so you have “saved data” when it comes time to examine the feedback you collected. The tester typically reinforces the idea that the usability test is not actually a “test” per se, so there isn’t a wrong answer when it comes to any of the questions (this is true and your test subject should be comfortable so they respond in an honest, relaxed way).

Tip 2: Find an Angle

If you are actively trying to gain a following and you are trying to have an extremely original blog—then you may want to try to find an angle. This works on a micro level–each post–or a macro level–your blog in general.

If you’ve spent any time in journalism or wonder why some articles are more engaging than others, then you can probably say with some surety that the writer has a unique angle on the subject material. After all, you have to fight hard to be at the head of the pack when it comes to publishing, and if you aren’t telling an original story, then your prospective audience may gloss over your work.

If you want to write about a famous musician, say, Jimi Hendrix, how are you going to write about him? Are you going to go the usual route and just report his history ? Or will you discuss his guitar technique? Or, are you going to tell his story in a more original way? Like, approaching his life through the stories of others, or writing about the clothes he wore at historic concerts.

In going against this advice, keep in mind that people also like familiar topics, so if you feel compelled to write about Hendrix’s guitar style, then, why not? Aristotle argues that art is cathartic (meant to purify the spirit), so if you are enjoying the material and working on your craft—go for it!

Tip 3: Do Some Research

Blogs thrive on research before one starts to actively write. Doing research takes no time and it actually find it to be pretty fun, because I get to see what other blogs are doing and how they handle mundane and complex information in different ways.

First, you might consider a broad research strategy where you go to the most popular websites right now and check them out. Ideally, you want to examine their page design first: find out where they keep information and find out what each page has in common and what each page has different (and why). Finally, find out how they engage with their customers. Is there a form to fill out? Is there an open dialogue? Do you think the way this company interacts with their customers is effective? Why?

And don’t just focus on those questions! Brainstorm questions you might have for a digital design specialist and see how they apply to the websites you are examining.

Second, bring your research strategy into the realm of the microcosm. In other words, find websites and blogs that inspired you or have similar information and topics. Are you a self-help blog? Find other self-help blogs! Are you a literature blog? Find other literature blogs!

Next, examine the design of each blog. What works well, and what does not work well? How could you improve your site? Again, dream up questions that will give you solid answers, which you can then use to build an effective and successful blog.

Tip 4: Interact and Engage

I will keep this one brief, but I think people forget to deliver on this particular part of blogging, and it’s certainly one that I need to spend more time on:

Interact and engage with other blogs and writers.

Writing is communal and so is blogging. While we may feel as though writing is a solitary function, academic research does not show that the best work comes from individuals sitting alone in dark, smoky rooms. You may feel cool, but your writing and craft will suffer. In fact, research shows that engaging with others and discussing writing improves one’s craft immensely. Even the greatest authors of all time had writing circles, editors, publishers, beta readers, and so on. They wrote, they shared, and they created excellent work.

Conclusion

By engaging with other blogs and writers, you are sharing your work and you are earning something in return. You are putting those blogging tips to use. Additionally, that something includes important feedback from other writers (suffering criticism is a threshold we all have to cross), and confidence in your writing, which will help you write better because you spend less time second-guessing yourself. And, lastly, by interacting and engaging with other writers, you are seeing how other websites function (Blog Tip 1), you are seeing other story angles (Blog Tip 2), you are conducting research through interaction (Blog Tip 3), and you are having meaningful conversations with people who have similar interests (so you are building a writing community).

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Voices of Change: The Harlem Renaissance

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It is hard to imagine the pain and sorrow a marginalized group of Americans must have felt emerging from the slavery of the South. Their palatable hope of Northern emancipation dissolved into similar racism and ostracism, too. But, from the ashes the phoenix does rise. In this post, we are going to talk about an important artistic movement known as The Harlem Renaissance. This movement pushed Black voices into the spotlight, and highlighted their artistic endeavors, from music to writing.

The Catalyst of a Cultural Movement and Renaissance

The Jim Crow laws of the post-Civil War American South did damage to Black Americans mentally and physically. These laws were the “system of segregation and discrimination in the South” by “legal segregation” (National Geographic). For example, these types of laws kept Black from eating in the same restaurants. They also could not drink from the same drinking fountains, going to the same theaters as whites. Likewise, exclusion can have the adverse effect of keeping people from feeling human.

It would stand to reason then, that many Blacks wanted to find a way out of the South.

As sources state, the disparity between Blacks and Whites in the South caused a turbulent rift to grow larger. The poison in the veins of these trodden Americans “led many African Americans to hope for a new life up north.” As Black Americans hid and dodged “hate groups” and “hate crimes” in the Deep South, they wondered about the “promise of owning land.” This promise never “materialized” (US History).

As it relates to our topic, the Harlem Renaissance grew out of Black Americans moving North. Here, they doubled-down on their cultures and histories in the segregated communities they were relegated to toil. Similarly, such innovation in the arts matched marginalized groups in the past. This includes the Native Americans who fought to maintain their own languages against the aggressions of European integration.

What was the Harlem Renaissance?

The Harlem Renaissance was a period between 1910 and the mid-1930s. The movement saw a large amount of Black Americans generating art from Harlem in New York City.

History states that “ … this period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art.” The convergence of Black Americans on the Harlem area stemmed from The Great Migration from the South to the North. The migration was spurred by the aforementioned Jim Crow laws that actively worked to undermine Black power.

Other factors that led to this migration included, “natural disasters.” Likewise, little immigration to the United States and recruitment from Northern companies led to Black Americans heading North.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes, Harlem Renaissance author, wrote a great deal about the Black experience. Biography states, “Hughes broke new ground in poetry when he began to write verse that incorporated how Black people talked and the jazz and blues music they played. He led the way in harnessing the blues form in poetry with ‘The Weary Blues,’ which was written in 1923 and appeared in his 1926 collection The Weary Blues.”


The Major Players in the Renaissance?

The Harlem Renaissance would see the likes of W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer emerge as powerful writing voices. McKay would produce a collection of poems titled Harlem Shadows in 1922, which was a breakthrough for Black writers. He would go on to write more prominent works, such as the poem “America” and “If We Must Die.”

Countee Cullen, who had published volumes of poetry including Color, Copper Sun, and The Ballad of the Brown Girl, innovated in the Harlem happenings. He married W.E.B. DuBois’ daughter Nina Yolande. The public saw their marraige as a “major social event in Harlem.” It “marked the joining of the Cullen and Du Bois lineages, two of its most notable families” (Poetry Foundation).

Furthermore authors like Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison would contribute defining pieces of literature regarding the identify of Black Americans.

Conclusion

While this is a small picture of the Harlem Renaissance, it is important to recognize its lasting legacy on writing (and other art forms). Due to the large volume and publication of many important voices in Black literature, this movement gave levity and authority to Black culture. It also staked a claim for Black literature, poetry, music, and art, and showed white Americans that there was more than one voice in the country.

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Ralph Ellison: From Invisible Man to Iconic Writer

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Ralph Ellison won the National Book Award in 1952 for the only novel he ever published. That novel was “The Invisible Man.” His book told a story about a black man in America. The main character feels invisible to American society because of the color of his skin. It’s a timely tale that rang true when it was published and rings true in the era of Black Lives Matter.

History of Ralph Ellison

Growing Up

Ellison was born in Oklahoma City, OK, and lost his father at an early age. Before taking up writing, Ellison played the cornet and wanted to direct his ambitions toward a life as a symphonic composer. However, after moving to New York, Ellison picked up a job as a writer for the New York Federal Writers Program. He then became the editor of The Negro Quarterly.

At this time, he met the likes of Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, and Richard Wright. With their tutelage and friendship, his skills as a writer grew. He spent countless hours engaged in conversations about literature, politics, and social issues, and took in the wisdom and experiences of these influential figures. They challenged and inspired him to delve deeper into his own writing.

Writing Mentors

From Langston Hughes, he learned the power of poetry and the beauty of the spoken word. Alain Locke exposed him to the rich cultural heritage of the African diaspora and taught him the importance of using literature as a means of empowerment and self-expression. Richard Wright, a master storyteller, showed him how to capture the harsh realities of life with raw honesty and unflinching realism.

As stated on the Cultural Front, Ellison was engaged by his mentor. “Hughes served as a guide as Ellison began learning about New York City, leftist politics, and leftist literature. Moreover, when Hughes learned that Wright was moving to New York City, he made him aware that Ellison wanted to meet him.” The friendships he formed during this time were intellectually stimulating. They also offered him a supportive community of like-minded individuals who understood the challenges he faced. These challenges includes being a writer of color in a predominantly white literary world.

Their influence would leave an indelible mark on his work. Similarly, their tutelage allowed him to become one of the most revered and influential writers of his time.

The Invisible Man

Ellison had already been publishing essays and short stories before tackling a novel as a project. After he enlisted in the Merchant Marine as a cook during WWII, he took to writing his novel. Publishers put out the book in 1952. The novel was met with fanfare, stayed on the 1953 bestseller list for 16 weeks, and won the National Book Award. The success of “The Invisible Man” essentially helped shape the minds of Americans as it relates to race relations and shined a light on the under-represented and disenfranchised groups during that era.

As he states in the first chapter, Ellison found confusion and contradiction in society about who he was, and who he should be in his heart. He states: “It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself” (Ellison). The lasting effect of his novel is still apparent in modern literature. Some authors cite it as one of the most important works of the last 100 years (Read.gov).

Conclusion

Through writing, Ellison found not only his voice but also his purpose. The encounters he had and the relationships he cultivated shaped and defined his literary legacy. He forever left an imprint on the pages of history. No doubt, the messages of a marginalized individual in “The Invisible Man” continues to be important to the conversations at large.