James Weldon Johnson Poetry

Johnson, James W. "James Weldon Johnson." The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. Ed. David L. Lewis. New York: Viking Penguin, 1994. 279-88. Print.

I had a problem reading these poems in the context given by the short introduction to Johnson. The fact that the man was an agnostic but wrote almost exclusively about God and Jesus doesn’t sit particularly well with me, especially because he does not use the concepts of God or allusions to the Bible as literary tools, but as direct references. As I went through the section of poems in our anthology, I couldn’t help but begin to feel that Johnson used Christianity, despite his own disbelief, as a cheap win-all card kept up his sleeve to gather more attention to himself and his poetry. By doing this, he is not only cheating his readers into believing that he has a meaningful connection with their deity, but himself as well. Part of being an agnostic requires a suspension of resolution – something that is difficult to do in our society. For Johnson to focus so singularly on Christianity creates an irreconcilable position between his agnosticism and his work; you cannot have your cake and eat it too, so to speak.

The poetry itself, too, I found bland and uninspired. There is a kind of academic detachment in the writings of those who profess to be atheistic or agnostic and yet attempt to write from the point of view of a Christian (or whatever religious follower). I know I have this problem too; I write a lot of fiction, most of which with a somewhat heavy (and biased) view against organized religion. In order to do this, I like to show what I see to be the good in religion by writing characters that are religious and attempt to work their beliefs into the life of an otherwise sound character, while simultaneously giving my writing a platform for religious discussions. The problem with me, as well as with Johnson, is that taking on the religious mind and attempting to write therein is impossible, and it shows. Something about the forced level of acceptance is transparent, which in turn makes anything else being said of less or no value.