Stephen Henderson has edited an anthology of the best of black poetry with an emphasis on the poetry of the 60's. But this anthology differs from others in significant ways. First, the introduction is extensive, giving tentative answers to such questions as: What makes a poem black? Who decides? What criteria does one use? The author's thesis is that the new black poetry's main referents are black speech and black music. Second, the author explores the many forms that black poets use, commenting on what is black technically in the poetry. Third, the poems anthologized include examples from the oral (folk sermon, spirituals, blues, ballad, rap) as well as the literary tradition. -- From publisher's description.

Winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (2012) Smart, grounded, and lyrical, Evie Shockley’s the new black integrates powerful ideas about “blackness,” past and present, through the medium of beautifully crafted verse. the new black sees our racial past inevitably shaping our contemporary moment, but struggles to remember and reckon with the impact of generational shifts: what seemed impossible to people not many years ago—for example, the election of an African American president—will have always been a part of the world of children born in the new millennium. All of the poems here, whether sonnet, mesostic, or deconstructed blues, exhibit a formal flair. They speak to the changes we have experienced as a society in the last few decades—changes that often challenge our past strategies for resisting racism and, for African Americans, ways of relating to one another. The poems embrace a formal ambiguity that echoes the uncertainty these shifts produce, while reveling in language play that enables readers to “laugh to keep from crying.” They move through nostalgia, even as they insist on being alive to the present and point longingly towards possible futures. Check for the online reader’s companion at http://http://thenewblack.site.wesleyan.edu.

Copy 3 is to replace the 2 missing copies noted in both holdings records.

Stephen Henderson has edited an anthology of the best of black poetry with an emphasis on the poetry of the 60's. But this anthology differs from others in significant ways. First, the introduction is extensive, giving tentative answers to such questions as: What makes a poem black? Who decides? What criteria does one use? The author's thesis is that the new black poetry's main referents are black speech and black music. Second, the author explores the many forms that black poets use, commenting on what is black technically in the poetry. Third, the poems anthologized include examples from the oral (folk sermon, spirituals, blues, ballad, rap) as well as the literary tradition. -- From publisher's description.

In The Vintage Book of African American Poetry, editors Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton present the definitive collection of black verse in the United States--200 years of vision, struggle, power, beauty, and triumph from 52 outstanding poets. From the neoclassical stylings of slave-born Phillis Wheatley to the wistful lyricism of Paul Lawrence Dunbar . . . the rigorous wisdom of Gwendolyn Brooks...the chiseled modernism of Robert Hayden...the extraordinary prosody of Sterling A. Brown...the breathtaking, expansive narratives of Rita Dove...the plaintive rhapsodies of an imprisoned Elderidge Knight . . . The postmodern artistry of Yusef Komunyaka. Here, too, is a landmark exploration of lesser-known artists whose efforts birthed the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movements--and changed forever our national literature and the course of America itself. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully structured, The Vintage Book of African-American Poetry is a collection of inestimable value to students, educators, and all those interested in the ever-evolving tradition that is American poetry.

Includes roots of black poetry in Africa, from primitive song, and extends to Egypt, Latin America, the West Indies, and the rural and urban streets of our country. The poetry of black Africa speaks directly to us over time and distance.