what was the harlem renaissance poets view of reality?

Answer 1

I don't think it was disillusionment. I think it was disenfranshisement. In most literature from that area, you find people who are on the fringes of white society. They often had white patrons, and white lovers, but this did not grant them full access to those privileges which were given to white America and their poetry reflects the anger that they cannot be part of it. i.e. Claude McKay's, "If We Must Die" or Langston Hughes, "I Too Sing America." Hughes reiterates that sentiment in "Theme for English B." Their view of reality stopped and started in Harlem. That was their world, and they knew that was their place, their haven from the truth that they could never be part of white America, but could make names for themselves in black America. They were not disillusioned, and yes some might have attempted to forget their southern roots. However, they were themselves in search of the American Dream. That is what they discovered as they took their educations to New York and realized that they education for which they struggled still only brought them second class citizenship. Hurston, for all of her Barnard learning, still found herself at the end of her life a maid. So, their reality was not one where they were disillusioned, but one that full of anger. They did not want the reparations of 40 acres and a mule. They wanted to be treated as full citizens. They wanted life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but only found life in Harlem.

Answer 2

Their reality was one of disillusionment. Many poets (and artists, musicians, authors, etc.) thought they had found a new world. They figured that it was a good place to be themselves. To their surprise, many black poets found that racism was still very real - even in the North. It wasn't as overt as Southern racism, but it was still there.
Another area of confusion came from their personal lives. They tried hard to shake the Southern stigma of the "uneducated, country" black. Many (not all) denied their Southern heritage and fully embraced a new way of speaking and writing. As a matter of fact, Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was ostracized because she used Southern dialect in her book. The book reviewers and fellow authors were horrified that this "image" had followed them into the Renaissance.
On a positive note, the Black arts flourished for the first time in the country. The poets (and other artists) still had to fight for fair treatment, but they found that if shey supported one another, they could accomplish most anything. And they did! Some of the greatest American novels, poems, music and pieces of art came from this era.