The Vintage Book of African American Poetry

February 1, 2000
This anthology of the work of 50 African American poets complements co-editors Harper and Walton's Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep (LJ 12/93), which showcased 35 recent African American poets. Included in chronological order here are over two centuries of poets, from Jupitor Hammon (1720-1800) to Reginald Shepherd (b.1963). Critical opinions in the headnotes are more persuasive and sweeping than the brief notes of the earlier one. For example, the editors argue that Sterling Brown's "body of poetry" is one of the greatest produced by an American in this century and that Robert Hayden has "amassed a nearly flawless collection of poems regarded as among the finest by an American of this century." Such assessment should bring into sharper focus the importance of issues like "belonging," dialect, identity, and race in a multiethnic society. More than ever, one sees that African American poetry essentially begins with Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), whose pioneering poetry ("different voicings") endures. That so few African American poets before Dunbar's era were allowed to achieve "voice and freedom" is a tragic waste. The editors' eloquent, outspoken vision provides a springboard for further examination of what constitutes the mainstream of American poetry.--Frank Allen, Northampton Community Coll., Tannersville, PA

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