I was reared in the conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage.

Cullen entered Harvard in 1925 to pursue a masters in English about the same time his first collection of poems Color was publiCountee Cullend. In 1940 Cullen married Ida Mae Robertson whom he had known for ten years. Cullen competed in a poetry contest sponsored by Opportunity.

(He pronounced his name "Coun-tay" not "Coun-tee. ").