The Creation

Erica Bell
Griffo 3A
English
7 May 2003
“The Creation”
“The Creation” is apart of a volume of poetry called God’s Trombones written by James Weldon Johnson in 1927(Napierkowski, ed. 17). In this volume, Johnson wished to create a monument or literary movement for the black race (“On The Creation…” 2). The poem “The Creation” retells the Biblical story of the Creation in the form of a Negro sermon. In the poem, Johnson follows the same order and techniques used in the Bible’s Book of Genesis (Napierkowski, ed. 17), but with changes and twist along the way. He uses this poem to imply that the black race is God’s chosen people. In “The Creation” James Weldon Johnson employs personification, repetition, and imagery to emphasize the theme concerning God’s omnipotence.
The personification of God in the poem helps emphasize the theme concerning God’s omnipotence through God’s actions. God’s actions reveal his physical human characterist...