https://digitallis.isg.siue.edu/files/original/abd1685fc5394406f8d809b3de894257.pdf 0c824690b474d6fce2da8b36959f0075 PDF Text Text BLACK POETRY OF THE POST-RENAISSANCE AND CONTEMPORARY PERIODS The psychological, social, political and economic issues that conf'ronted Blacks after the Civil War and Reconstruction, p.ersi-sTed through the Harlem Awakening. The collapse of the American economy in 1929 signale~also,the collapse of white patronization of Black artists. However, several of the budding institutions)publications and social undertakings-begun before, during and after the Renaissance--have lasted up to this very day. And while the primary thrust of Black writing during the twenties was cultural reclamation and racial af'firmation, the literature since that time has been dominated by variants on the theme of sociaJ/IIA ,/i {..!!!9e~\~mos-r. l ~tnJ-tJI. m. writings of the Post-Renaissance and Contemporary period; protest is the most salient feature • .,......,...... 1,his factor, ~ ~ coupled with the appearance of new Black academic critics,~~~t off literary debates that still reverberate in Black letters. The two most vocal positions are l) or art remain free of overt 11 that Black literature protest 11 --thus avoiding "restrictions" which protest imposes on the creativity; and 2) that the Black artist's continuing responsibility is to engage in protest, to forge his work into weapons of liberation. These two views of the Black artist have always shadowed the developing Black literature. But it was not until the emergence of a Black critical "establishment" that the views received widespread attention or registered great inf'luence. 96 At this writing, �I ' I ; NEW TRENDS AND DEFIANCE: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY BLACK POETS (1900-PRESENT) During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Black Americans underwent social, political and psychological changes that would leave indelible marks on both their's and the nation's futures. W.E.B. DuBois' "The Song of the Smoke" (1899) announced the Black man's uncompromising rejection of the plantation tradition and his defiant leap across the thresh-hold of the new century. Elsewhere DuBois prophetically noted that the biggest problem of the twentieth century would be the problem of the "color lineti.} Black writers and scholars had begun to record the Black experience in the nineteenth century. But it was during the first quarter of this century that Black scholarship, creativ\t$ and organized attacks against social injustice 7 reached their greatest intensity. Dunbar, who died in 1906, was the first Black poet to achieve international recognition. And the publication of his Complete Poems in 1913 was a si gnificant literary event in ~~ American letters. The publication also heralded the new mood of creativity and self-reliance, and spurred the embryonic Black national racial consciousness. During this period (1900-20), other Black poets were working in their respective spheres to hammer out individualistic as well as folk-influenced works. At the same time two major poetic developments were 72 �,• J : the issue of the writer's social responsibility constitutes one of the most vigorous on-going debates in the history of Black American l i t e r a t u r e . ~ , fhe two major living Black • poets, Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden, are at sharp and critical odds on this particular issue. Hayden has refused to place conscious racial concerns over the craft of poetry, holding that many of the new Black poets are minor versifiers with political ambitions. Miss Brooks, who stepped into the middle of the Black Poetry Movement of the late sixties, has shifted to the 11 Black first, poet second" position and holds the younger writers in high esteem. She noted that if she had died before she was fifty, she would have "died a Negro faction." In modern history, these debates have taken place in the midst, or on the heels, of tremendous successes on the parts of Black writers. tet while the important Renaissance writers were prize-winners, it was not until the publication of Richard WrightJs novel,Native Son, in 1940, that a Black writer received attention on par with the best white writers of his day. WrightJs achievement was followed two years later by Margaret Walker's (Yale Poetry Prize for For My People), ten years later by Gwendolyn Brooks' (Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen, poetry), and twelve years later by Ralph Ellison's (National Book Award, Invisible Man). Many of the Black writers of the 1930-1945 period sustained themselves by working for the Federal Writers' Project of the WPA. Some of their own writings, as well as important 97 �taking place side-by-side: one white and one Black, although there were some exchanges between the two. White America was in the midst of poetry revival which was characterized by various "New Poetry movements. 11 The revival was signaled and given impetus by the establishment of Poetry: of Verse (edited by Harriet Monroe) in 1912. new poets were part of the 11 A Magazine Many of the Imagist" school and were greatly influenced by Greek, Roman and Oriental symbolism and imagery. ~g~tr~ provided an outlet for much of this new writing. At least two Black poets participated in the development of the 11 r,lew 11 poetry in America: and Fenton Johnson. William Stanley Braithwaite James Weldon Johnson, though usually iden- tified with the Harlem Renaissance, also was a contemporary of then~ wet~ and published his first volume of poetry, Fifty, Years and Other Poems, in 1917. Braithwaite was a critic, poet, and anthologist who helped to launch the careers of a number of important white poets. 1 He edited anthologies of Elizabethan, Georgian and Restoration verse and a series of yearly anthologies of magazine verse which he began in 1913. He also wrote criticism and reviews as a member of the literary editorial staff of the postQD ~~B.,q~qr,~.l}~. Judged against the poets of his time, Braithwaite comes off well. Like Phillis Wheatley, he conformed to the forms, styles and poetic conventions of his day. Hence, one rarely gets a hint, from reading Braithwaite's poetry, that he is Black. Fenton Johnson, James Weldon observed, wrote poetry expressing Black 73 �cultural and historical studies, resulted from this work. During the same period, Black literary activity flourished despite the fact that, at times, Black unemployment reached ~ up to fifty-six percent. Most of the Renaissance poets and fiction writers continued publishing, as did the historians and social critics (DuBois, Charles Johnson, Locke, Benjamin G. Brawley, and others). A new Black critic, J. Saunders Redding, had written a critical study in 1936. And in 1~41, poet-scholar Sterling Brown collaborated with Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee on monumental work The Negro Caravan--the most ambitious 1 anthology of Black literature yet published. Another pub0... lishing landmark of the period was The Poetry of the American Negro (Hughes an,d Bontemps, 1949). Both works carried earlier In~~ yer as well as contemporary poets. ~ -ween 1930 and· 1960"another group of poets, many of them teenagers at the close of the Harlem Renaissance,~ began to publish. In addition to Margaret Walker, Hayden and Gwendolyn Brooks, new names included Melvin Tolson, Margaret Danner, Dudley Randall (publisher of Broadside Press), Samuel Allen (also Paul Vesey), Frank Marshall Davis, Ray Durem, Owen Dodson, James Emanuel, Bruce McM. Wright, Alfred Duckett, Myron O'Higgins (who colloborated with Hayden on a 1948 booklet of poems), M. Carl Holman, Russell Atkins (founder of Freelance in 1950), Donald Jeffrey Hayes, Richard Wright (who also wrote poetry), John Henrik Clarke (:- editor of Ereed2W1g:I,§.), Lance Jeffers, Naomi Long Madgett, Gloria c. 98 Oden, Zack Gilbert, Hoyt Fuller �"disillusionment and bitterness." His "note of fatalistic despair" was "so foreign to any philosophy of life the Negro in America. had ever preached or practiced." (The observation was not entirely correct; for an examination of Black folk literature [the spirituals and bluesJ will reveal shades of Fenton Johnson's philosophy.) Johnson, who was also a jour- nalist, published three volumes of poetry between 1912 and 1916. His work appeared in the anthology Others and in Poetry ·• · Other Black poets writing and publishing in the first two decades of this century were James David Corruthers, ' Leslie Pinckney Hill, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Alice Dunbar Nelson and Angelina Weld GrimkJ. Social and artistic revolt dominated the early years of this century--culminating in what has come to be known as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age." The white dialect writers of the nineteenth century had passed from the scene but there appeared yet another, more insidious, brand of stereotypical writing among whites: 1\ II that dealing with the • Black noble savage allegedly untainted by the decadent systems and machines of the \kstern world. This kind of writing (no doubt a continuation of some of the ideas in Jack London's work, e.g., The Call of the Wild, 1903) stemmed from the rediscovery of the Black man as a subject for realistic fiction and drama. Writers either sensationalized the under- neath of Black life or revived the latent white notions of 74 �(editor of Negro Digest/Black World) and Lerone Bennet Jr. (historian ). pre o.t1cl Many of these~post World War II poets were writing during the Renaissance but did not publish or achieve recognition at that time. Black poets writing before the sixties were recorded in Rosey Pool's Beyond the Blues (1962) -and Arna Bontemps• American Negro Poetry (1963). Some themes in Black Poetry of the post-Renaissance period are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Lynching Social injustice (discrimination, segregation, job bias) Paradoxes in Christianity The Black working-class man War Communism, Socialism, class struggle and other "le.ft II movements Black .Music (BeBop, Jazz, Blues, etc.) Black stamina and endurance Problems or the Black veteran Comparisons of Racism and bigotry abroad with similar situations in the u.s. Southern or rural Black life Black urban life Black women, especially mothers Patriotism Greek and Roman mythology and culture Racial slurs, stigmas and nicknames Black historical figures Academic pursuits Slavery Religion Poverty Status-climbing Many or these themes and preoccupations closely parallel political developments and pressures of the period. And. , Mt ove~o.LL ,are ltheyt.._too removed from the Ahistorical concerns of Black '• poets whom, Hayden notes, are "traditionally associated with protest." Nor are . these themes remote to the contemporary 99 �perspective. The bibliography provides more listing and direction for students wanting to study this period in depth. BLACK POETS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE Although folk poetry had long been a spine of Black ' creative life and Black poets had endeavored in the English literary tradition since the middle of the eighteenth century, Black Poetry came officially and authentically of age during the Harlem Renaissance. Sometimes called the New Negro Movement, the Negro Awakening or the Black Renaissance, this period ran the length of the decade of the ·l92Ofs and er shed with the stock market. As was the case with their predecessors, Black poets of the Renaissance employed an exciting variety of styles, themes, techniques, and were arrayed along a diverse scale of ideologies ·with debatable achievements and successes. Students of the Renaissance usually concentrate on five figures--Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson and Jean Toomer--although a number of lesser known writers showed great gifts and powers in their works. At least two of the lesser known writers--Arna Bontemps and Sterling Brown--deserve close attention. Other youthful voices who contributed to this exciting decade were Waring Cuney, Frank Horne, Gwendolyn B_e nnett and Helene Johnson. 77 �Black Poetry. For the student will note that while some of today's poets are not always well-read in either their own or the general literary tradition, they are usually politically-charged and often·relentlessly cynical in their appraisal of American society. Indeed, the contemporary poetry (which will only be alluded to here) ties all the loose ends of Black Poetry in to one amalgamating knot: A knot of stresses and twistings which constitute, in the words of Jane Cortez, Festivals and Funerals. For it is in the contemporary period that more poets than ever before are writing, publishing, and establishing unprecedented worldwide . recognition and distribution. , (\Y\l'tlS) If Alain Locke could observe~that the Renaissance movement saw Black poets working as a grouphood, then an updated observation of Locke's reaction would acknowledge that Black poets are influencing each other before our very eyesJ--·o n television, on recordings, tapes, through a proliferation of printed collections and anthologies, via correspondence, through literary competition, at conferences and workshops, and through numerous new journals and other periodicals. The New Black Poetry movement--and its related ideological and aesthetical spin~outs--is, Hayden notes, one of the most "significant" developments of the contemporary era. The poets are not in agreement on the questions related to the Black aesthetic, to whom they (should?) direct their works, the use of racial consciousness, or the criteria !'or a "Black" poem. But most of them 1re discussing and examining these 100 �~-- Of the sevenkwriters, only Cullen was ,born in New York City and(as the adopted son of a minister) he was raised "in the conservative atmosphere of a Methodist parsonage." The other writers came from various other parts of the southern, eastern and midwestern United States. Not only were the poets drawn to Harlem--the Black capitol of the world at the time-but so were the musicians, painters, dramatists, cinematographers , dancers, singers and scholars. Added to this atmosphere of creativity and scholarship--in New York and ' other urban areas--was the presence of World War I veterans. The veterans came home with a new sense of assurance and conf'idence after having been genuinely received by other nationalities and races abroad. So) r , like the works of their white counterparts, much of the writings of Black poets and fictionists were a reflection of the war and post-war optimism. This spirit--which did not anticipate the Great Depression of the thirties--was one of jubilance and indulgence. Tbo white population, especially the writers, rediscovered Blacks and Blacks rediscovered themselves. Critic James Emanuel. notes that many whites went to Harlem to forget the war and "engage their new Freudian awareness." Students will see that many Black Poets unwittingly aided in the etching of the "new" stereotype of the "pre-civilized" primordial Black American/African. In most of the poets there is a romanticization of African--a depiction of a mood quite foreign to the contemporary realities of Harlem, 78 �issues. James Baldwin (novelist, essayist, playwright), who succeeded Wright as the leading Black literary lion, has said that any Black man in the least perceptive "must be constantly on the verge of insanity." Indeed, LeRoi Jones (now Imamu Amiri Baraka, and an acknowledged leader of the New Black Poetry movement) appeared in the mid and late sixties as the embodiment of Baldwin's revelation. Like Baraka, many of the new Black poets "rage" in scalding lyrics that denounce American moral bankruptcy, send broadsides against "Uncle Toms" and the Black middleclass, and perform their poetry with a verbal vitality that rivals the old time preachers. More than ever before, Black poets are writing their poems to be read aloud--to move audiences to action. All contemporar Black poets, however, cannot be loosely lumped into the pattern ascribed to Baraka (who is an enigmatic, complex and multi-talented man). Indeed, many of the new poets align themselves with neutral writers, the "mainstream" of white poetry, "third world" activities 1 and other political, religious or ethnic co.M ·p-;s., ·· . One · t'lewt1nd important factor in the new poetry is the$Ttw,+,e of~emerging African nations. Black Americans and Black Africans now fraternize in great numbers. Svc;k <U1 ~.. VJ,~ ..' " · h~S provided both subject matter and energy for the new poetry. Like the Beat poets of the fifties, many Black poets submerge themselves in everything from the occult to Eastern mysticism to private imagery 101 �Washington, D.C., Philadelphia or Detroit. The formalist poets--McKay, Cullen (a great admirer of Keats) and, to some extent, Toomer-- worked in the traditional s forms and styles. All three wrote sonnets with McKay achieving the most force and notoriety in this form. A native of Jamaica, McKay published his first volume of poetry in the island dialect when he was 20 years old. In 1920 he published a volume in England (Spring in New Hampshire), and his first bqok in the U.S. was Harlem Shadows (1922). Johnson called McKay the "most powerf'ul voice" of the "post-war group." And critics have continued to agree with Johnson's 1922 assessment that McKay "was preeminently the poet of rebellion." Active in the general literary life of New York, McKay was an editor ' of Liberator magazine, rubbed shoulderi~amous persons of the day (W.E.B. DuBois, George Bernard Shaw, Isadora Duncan, H.G. Wells, etc.), and wrote novels. He also traveled widely as did most of the other poets. Cullen, a devout "formalist" in his personal life and writings, published his first volume of' poetry (Color) in 192.5 but resented the stigma of being called a "IJegro" poet. In doing so, he was anticipating the clash of ideology and aesthetics which would take place in the 1960's. During this later debate over the significance of race in the poet's life and work, Robert Hayden would take a stand similar to that of Cullen's. Cullen, a teacher observed, may have written the "first rime royals in f\.merica. 79 11 Indeed Cullen �and symbolism.. In general, however, the protest of earlier ~ulie,rt times continues to be ,.;. ; and the devices and referents are more often folk or cultural. Prevailing themes of con- temporary Black Poetry include: l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Black Music (including instruments and salutes to musicians themselves) Religion: Islam, Bahai, Voodoo, African ancestor cult, Christianity War Interracial dating and marriage Art (Black art, especially) Sensuality Violence Urban life Rural life Social injustice (denouncements of racism, colonialism, Imperialism, capitalism, etc.) Assessment of the "system," the "establishment, 11 etc. Love (especially among Black men .and women) Black pride (self-development, community development) Africa (names, places, dates, heroes) Christianity {support and satire) Whiteness as evil. Blackness· as good Attacks upon hypocrisy and artificial self-restraint: upon those who are not "for real 11 Forecast of doom (for the Western World; America especially) Astrology, numerology, ancient knowledge Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Negritude, Soul, etc. Black History Rejection of drugs, alcohol and other so-called indications of Western 11 decadence 11 The list could go on ad infinitum. However, the student must respect the individuality of the poets and treat their works as separate flashes of power and creativity within the vast Web of the Black Experience. Much of the new poetry is avail- able in the numerous new anthologies, some of which are The New Black Poetry (Major, 1969), Black Fire {Jones and Neal, 1970), The Black Poets (R~nd.al~ 197J), New Black Voices 102 �of wrote in all4the most difficult--and outdated--\lestern forms: • heroic couplets, four-stress couplets, Spenserian stanzas, etc. Many critics, however, have consistently misjudged Cullen's achievement in that they are often too blinded by his formal style and techniques. In "Heritage," for e.xample, he employs all the conventions and stereotypical treatment of Africa and the Black past; but the student must look for deeper meanings and double entendres. He must see through the consciously formal style to the dilemma of the Black intellectual caught in the midst of the failures of Reconstruction, the frustrating promise of the period and his personal credo. Cullen's The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927), an anthology he edited (Caroling Dusk, 1927) and Copper Sun (1929) are further indication of his discipline, power and variety. Like other Renaissance poets, he won numerous awards and citations for his poetry. Cullen also wrote The Black Christ (1929) while he was in Paris on a Guggenheim Fellowship. Toomer, a mixture of seven racial strands and a student of the occult and esoteric thought, is being revived today (in some quarters) as the towering genius of the Harlem Awakening. Robert Bone ( ~ We/i:J;!D lioJUlJ ~ .Aw.e.l!j ~) said Toomer was the only Black poet who participated on an "equal" plane with the major writers of the era. His repu- tation rests almost solely on a single book, Cane, published in 1923. It was met by a lukewarm reception among members of the critical establishment, but avant-garde writers and 80 �/ I) t I, (Chapman, 1972) and The Poetry of Black America (Adoff, 1973). Today's poets have inherited the psychosocial ambivalences and complexes of America, seen the almost constant economic depression among Black masses, witnessed America's persistent lynch-vogue and recurring riots, and felt the $a.Ma. alienation and rejection known to their forefathers. >1he»,~a.t ~any observers say A.the "break-away II strand in new Black America--and consequently in the New Black Poetry--was to be expected. Whatever the student's conclusions, it is evident Black Poetry is now an indelible part of man's literature. 103 �critics praised the book. Cane is a patchwork of poems, stories, and at least one play. The poems interlace the stories which are usually preceded b~ poetic epigrams. Toomer is concerned with Black religious zealousness, sexuality, agrarianism and oppression, primarily in the south (Georgia) but in urban centers as well. Toomer's work is complex and has to be read several times before it can . be fully understood and appreciated. Like most of the poetry of the Renaissance, his is the work of a brilliant intellect sometimes intimidated by white condescension and other times by Black indifference. Also, like the other writings, it sees Black hope in the strength of Black common folk. Hughes, Bontemps, Johnson, and Brown, all worked .more blatantly with folk themes and idioms. Toomer exploited the , Black mass mind in bis work; but be was essentially an observer. poets. Hughes, Bontemps, Johnson, and Brown are true folk But each of the three men also experimented with, and sustained an output of, diverse "literary forms" of poetry. Hughes, especially, will remain known--as will Dunbar-as the poet of Black folk life and language. Hughes recorded the Black mood and character like no writer before or after him. In "The Negro Speaks of Rivers~ Hughes signaled spiritual '- unity of the Black world. Coming as it did in 1919, the poem is often seen as the official opening of the Renaissance. Hughes wrote in every important literary genre and even invented some. His ltfeary Blues (1926) firmly established 81 �him as a poet of tremendous talent and potential. Con- sidered a major American writer, Hughes would be the only Renaissance figure to stay afloat and prominent up to the tumultous sixties. In his poetry, Hughes advances three primary concerns: the wedding of Black music and poetry, racial affirmation and pride, and social protest. His first volume, as well as Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927), vibrantly illustrate the three themes. Johnson's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (1900, with music by his brother, J. Rosamond) was being "sung generally by the colored people throughout the country" by the time of the Renaissance. The song is widely regarded as the Black American national anthem. However, Johnson's work as NAACP field secretary, diplomat, lawyer and social historian, often , dwarfed his efforts as a poet. A great deal of his importance rests on The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), the first such anthology, in which he not only introduced the poetry, but noted the most important Elack contributions to American culture. He published two volumes of poetry during the Renaissance: God's Trombones (1927) and St. Peter Relates an Incident (1930). In addition, he co-edited with his brother two collections of spirituals. Johnson also wrote lyrics for popular songs and musicals and has been called the true "renaissance" man. 'fh11J , the student will want ~ to look at the conposite man to understand the implications and motivations behind his poetry. Arna Bontemps, who did not publish a volume of poetry 82 �f/ during the Harlem Awakening, had individual poems appearing regularly in Crisis, Opportunity and other magazines of the period. He also won several prizes. As anthologis~, poet, critic, historian, librarian, and writer of children's books, his broad vision and endeavors inform his poetry with both colloquial and universal concerns. Brown also published in the magazines and periodicals of the period. involvement with seen in poems like His intense the folk idioms and themes can be 11 0dyssey of Big Boy," "Southern Road," "Memphis Blues" and "Long Gone." Though there is no single thematic or stylistic thread tying the poets of the Renaissance together, it is clear that they generally knew each other and were tremendously aware of the importance of their combi'ned and specific undertakings •. The student must recognize that there is no monolithic pattern in the works--and approach the diversity and achievements accordingly. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context EBRWritings_07_46 Title A name given to the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 72-83 Relation A related resource Eugene B. Redmond Digital Collection Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource For digital rights and permissions, see <a href="https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml">https://www.siue.edu/lovejoy-library/about/policies.shtml</a> or contact <a href="mailto:library@siue.edu">library@siue.edu</a> for direct inquiries. In copyright. <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Redmond, Eugene B. Description An account of the resource Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry: A Critical History, typed partial manuscript, p. 72-83. Pages 75-76 are missing.