Early Black American Poets: Selections with Biographical and Critical Introductions

Item

Title

Early Black American Poets: Selections with Biographical and Critical Introductions

This edition

"Early Black American Poets: Selections with Biographical and Critical Introductions" . Ed. William H. Robinson. Dubuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown, 1969. xviii+275 pp.; "3rd ed." Dubuque, Iowa: W. C. Brown, 1971. xviii+309 pp.

Table of contents

● General Introduction

I. Orator Poets
● Lucy Terry / “Bars Fight”
● Jupiter Hammon / “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ”
● Jupiter Hammon / “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatly (sic)”
● Gustavus Vassa / “Miscellaneous Verses”
● George Moses Horton / “The Lover’s Farewell”
● George Moses Horton / “To Eliza”
● George Moses Horton / “Slavery”
● George Moses Horton / “The Slave’s Complaint”
● George Moses Horton / “On Hearing of the Intention of a Gentlemen to Purchase the Poet’s Freedom”
● George Moses Horton / “The Art of a Poet”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “A Double Standard”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “Death of the Old Sea King”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “Songs for the People”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “The Slave Mother”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “The Slave Auction”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “Nothing and Something”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “Vashti”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “Bury Me in a Free Land”
● Frances E.W. Harper / “Learning to Read”
● James M. Whitfield / from “America”
● James M. Whitfield / “The Misanthropist”
● James M. Whitfield / “Stanzas for the First of August”
● James M. Whitfield / “To Cinque”
● Daniel A. Payne / “The Mournful Lute, or The Preceptor’s Farewell”
● Daniel A. Payne / from “The Pleasures”
● Daniel A. Payne / “May I Not Love?”
● Elymas Payson Rogers / from “On the Fugitive Slave Law”
● Elyman Payson Rogers / from “The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise Considered”
● Charles L. Reason / “The Spirit Voice”
● Francis A. Boyd / from Canto IV, “The Soliloquy” Columbiana
● Francis A. Boyd / from Canto V, “The Dream”
● James Madison Bell / “Modern Moses, or ‘My Policy’ Man”

II. Formalist Poets
● Phillis Wheatley / “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”
● Phillis Wheatley / “On Being Brought from Africa to America”
● Phillis Wheatley / “On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield”
● Phillis Wheatley / “Thoughts on the Work of Providence”
● Phillis Wheatley / “On Recollection”
● Phillis Wheatley / “On Imagination”
● Phillis Wheatley / “To His Excellency General Washington”
● Phillis Wheatley / “To S.M., A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Work”
● Phillis Wheatley / “An Ode On the Birthday of Pompey Stockbridge”
● Phillis Wheatley / “On Friendship”
● Ann Plato / “Reflections, Written on Visiting the Grave of a Venerated Friend”
● Ann Plato / “Forget Me Not”
● Ann Plato / “To the First of August”
● Ann Plato / “The Natives of America”
● George Marion McLlelan / “A January Dandelion”
● George Marion McLlelan / “The Color Bane”
● George Marion McLlelan / “Eternity”
● George Marion McLlelan / “Love is a Flame”
● George Marion McLlelan / “In the Heart of a Rose”
● George Marion McLlelan / “A September Night”
● George Marion McLlelan / “The April of Alabama”
● George Marion McLlelan / “Day Break”
● George Marion McLlelan / “The Sun Went Down in Beauty”
● George Marion McLlelan / “A Decoration Day”
● George Marion McLlelan / from “The Legend of Tannhauser and Elizabeth”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “To My Father”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “Milton”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “Shakespeare”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “Robert G. Shaw”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “Antigone and Oedipus”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “The Dawn of Love”
● Henrietta Cordelia Ray / “Idyl”

III. Romantic Poets
● John Boyd / “The Vision/ a Poem in Blank Verse”
● John Boyd / “Sketch of a Varying Evening Sky”
● John Boyd / “Ocean”
● The Creole Poets: Armand Lanusse / “Un Frère Au Tombeau de Son Frère” [with translation]
● The Creole Poets: Victor Séjour / “Le Retour de Napoléon” [with translation]
● The Creole Poets: Nelson Debrosses / “Le Retour au Village aux Perles” [with translation]
● The Creole Poets: Nicol Riquet / “Rondeau Redoublé” [with translation]
● George B. Vashon / from “Vincent Ogé”
● Benjamin Clark / “The Emigrant”
● Benjamin Clark / “The Seminole”
● Benjamin Clark / “What Is a Slave?”
● Benjamin Clark / “The Pauper’s Grave”
● Benjamin Clark / “Requiescat in Pace”
● Benjamin Clark / “Do They Miss Me?”
● Benjamin Clark / “Love”
● Benjamin Clark / “No Enemies”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Frederick Douglass”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Contradiction”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “The Poet”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Prologue to a Supposed Play”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Answer to Dunbar’s ‘After a Visit’”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “On Hearing James W. Riley Read”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Emerson”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Oliver Wendell Holmes”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Let None Ignobly Halt”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “Answer to Dunbar’s ‘A Choice’”
● Joseph Seaman Cotter / “My Poverty and Wealth”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Leelah Misled”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Invocation, Canto I, ‘Twasinta’s Seminoles’”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “The Southland’s Charms”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Miscellaneous Poems”: “Hymn to the Nation”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Miscellaneous Poems”: “The Lute of Afric’s Tribe”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Miscellaneous Poems”: “Custer’s Last Ride”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Miscellaneous Poems”: “Ye Bards of England”
● Albery Allson Whitman / from “Miscellaneous Poems”: “Stonewall Jackson, 1886”

IV. Dialect Poems
Negro Dialect Poetry
● James Edwin Campbell / “Ol’ Doc’ Hyar”
● James Edwin Campbell / “Uncle Eph—Epicure”
● James Edwin Campbell / “De Cunjah Man”
● James Edwin Campbell / “’Sciplinin’ Sister Brown”
● Daniel Webster Davis / “Miss Liza’s Banjer”
● Daniel Webster Davis / “Aunt Chloe’s Lullaby”
● James D. Corrothers / “Sweeten ’Tatahs”
● James D. Corrothers / “Der Rabbit’s Foot”
● Elliot B. Henderson / “Good Bye, Honey—Good Bye”
● Elliot B. Henderson / “Git on Board, Chillun”
● Elliot B. Henderson / “Uncle Ned an’ de Mockin’ Bird”
● Elliot B. Henderson / “Trussy’s Visit”
● J. Mord Allen / “The Devil and Sis’ Viney”

● Appendix A
● Appendix B
● Appendix C
● Bibliography of Other Early American Negro Poets
● Index

Reviews and notices of anthology


• n/a

Commentary on anthology


• "Its 'Bibliography: Early American Negro Poets' (pp. 269-271) is very valuable for the poems of black poets up to 1907" (Rowell 1972: 58).
• Organized by type: "Orator Poets, Formalist Poets, Romantic Poets, and Dialect Poetry" (Kinnamon 1997: 471).

Cited in

Kinnamon 1997: 471
• Indexed in "The Columbia Granger's Index to African-American Poetry" (1999)

Item Number

A0097a

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