Book
African American Poetry : 250 years of struggle & song
Publication Information
New York, N.Y. : The Library of America, [2020]
Physical Description
lx, 1110 pages ; 21 cm.
Series
Summary
Across a turbulent history, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. One of the great American art forms, African American poetry encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, and protest. The anthology opens with moving testaments to the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion, as enslaved people voice their passionate resistance to slavery. This volume captures the power and beauty of this diverse tradition and its challenge to American poetry and culture. The volume also features biographies of each poet and notes that illuminate cultural references and allusions to historical events. -- adapted from jacket
Contents
- Introduction / by Kevin Young
- Bury me in a free land: 1770-1899
- Lift every voice: 1900-1918
- The dark tower: 1919-1936
- Ballads of remembrance: 1936-1959
- Ideas of ancestry: 1959-1975
- Blue light sutras: 1976-1989
- Praise songs for the day: 1990-2008
- After the hurricane: 2009-2020