Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Toomer once wrote "In life nothing is only physical," he maintained, "there is also the symbolical. White and Black. West and East. North and South. Light and Darkness. In general, the great contrasts. The pairs of opposites. And I, together with all other I's, am the reconciler." Ah, so that explains the poem. Sort of. (Source.)
After pursuing mystical religions, Toomer joined the Society of Friends (a.k.a. Quakers) in the late 1930s. No wonder he was all about the reconciliation. (Source.)
Cane was inspired by Toomer's experiences in the South while teaching in Georgia. In a lot of ways, this poem reads as a kind of first-hand account, don't you think? (Source.)