A Study Guide for Jean Toomer's "Reapers"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Jean Toomer's "Reapers," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535831857

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Reapers

Jean Toomer

1922

Introduction

Reapers is a poem by Jean Toomer originally published in 1922 in the socialist Liberator magazine but more widely published in Toomer's groundbreaking collection of fiction, poetry, and drama, Cane (1923). Reapers is a dark poem about poverty, violence, and struggle in the southern United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. The terse but precise tone gives an excellent glimpse into the poetic qualities apparent in all of Toomer's works of the time. Born into a cloud of confusion regarding his own racial makeup, Toomer searched for his identity through many different communities before emerging in the American South. Inspired by his experiences, Toomer wrote some of the most famous literature of the 1920s and, therefore, was included in what would later be known as the Harlem Renaissance. The authenticity, brutality, and emotion Toomer felt while writing Reapers are apparent in the pointed lines of the poem. A moment of American history is captured, like a photograph with words rather than a camera.

Reapers is especially notable because the early 1920s represent the only time Toomer wrote in the style of Cane. His life's journey continued forward, leaving behind the literary circles of New York City. Toomer saw life as a search for mental clarity, and the literature he wrote was simply a step in his much larger plans for his life. Along with capturing a moment in American history, Reapers also records a moment in the life of a very expansive American mind.

Author Biography

According to biographers Cynthia Earl Kerman and Richard Eldridge, Toomer failed at writing his autobiography. He spent many years in the attempt, but in all his efforts he managed to concentrate only on the earliest years of his life. In part, this can be accredited to Toomer's historically significant grandfather, P. B. S. Pinchback. A traveler, Pinchback was born in Georgia, was educated in Cincinnati, and rose to fame as a gambler in New Orleans. In 1871, Pinchback was made interim governor of Louisiana. The son of a former slave and slave owner, Pinchback was the first black governor of any state in the United States (and would be the only black governor America had for the next century). Toomer was born December 26, 1894. His father, Nathan Toomer, was also a traveler, one who ran away from his wife before