In "The Creation" by James Weldon Johnson, what is the impression provided of God?

“The Creation” by James Weldon Johnson is subtitled “A
Negro Sermon.” Published in 1920, Johnson intended for the poem’s speaker to sound like
a Southern, Black preacher speaking as though he were God.  In the poem, the speaker
embellishes the first twenty-five verses from the book of
Genesis.

The narration of the poem is third person point of
view with the speaker looking through the eyes of God.  The poet gives God human
qualities to accentuate the reasons for the creation and how it was
performed.

The poem is written in free verse. The images
that it brings to the creation story fuse together the black, idiomatic language and the
oratorical power of the African-American sermons. Johnson was intent on not
perpetuationg the stereotypical views of the black man. Therefore, his language is
powerful and expressive.

The descriptions of God and the
metaphorical comparisons place God in his all-powerful position but also humanize him as
well. The qualities of God are expressed throughout the
poem:

1st and 2nd
Stanzas

God steps out into space. [What an
interesting way to begin to show that what man has done, God did
first!]

He is lonely and so he creates a world. To make the
process more visual and memorable, the poet presents a God who walks and talks just as
he eventually creates man to do.

The darkness that Genesis
describes becomes a metaphor in the poem: “blacker than a hundred midnights down in a
cypress swamp.” Now, the reader can understand the depth of the
blackness.

3rd and 4th
Stanzas

When God smiles, the world lights
up.  The poet creates an impression of the light being made into the parting of the Red
Sea by Moses. 

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And the light
broke

And the darkness rolled up on one
side

And the light stood shining on the
other,

And God said: “That’s
good!” 

God shapes the sun
out of light that he gathers and flings into the sky. The light that was left he uses to
create the moon and the stars.  

5th and 6th
Stanzas

God walks on the earth and creates
the valleys and the mountains with his feet as he hollows and
bulges. 

The world looks barren to God.  He vividly spits
out the seven seas. He bats his eyes and lightning flashes; and he claps his hands and
thunder rolls and the rain pours out of the
sky.

7th and 8th
Stanzas

More and more of the beauty of the
earth come from God.  The oak tree spreads out through his arms.  The pine tree points
from the tip of his mighty finger.  The rainbow curls around his
shoulders.

Then the animals begin to come; they are faster
than God can drop his hand. Again God states: “That’s
good!”

9th and 10th
Stanzas

God looks around at the beauty of
the earth and its animals.  He looks at the sun and the heavenly orbs.  He admits that
he is still lonely. Just as man might, God sits down by the river and places his head in
his hands and thinks.

11th and 12th
Stanzas

God realizes that he needs a
companion on earth.  He will make a man.  He scoops up the clay by the river, kneels
down. The almighty God who has made everything on earth lovingly molds the man in his
hands.  The simile creates the picture of a mother bending over her
child.

Then God blows the breath of life into his creation.
And man became a living breathing soul.

The poet creates a
kind, gentle God who proudly affixes the heavens, the earth, and the animals who live
there.  He is most proud of his last creation, and the one who he hopes will keep from
his loneliness: man.