Anthems, Sonnets, and Chants

284 Pages·2010·2.04 MB·English

Anthems, Sonnets,
and Chants

Anthems, Sonnets,
and Chants
Recovering the African American
Poetry of the 1930s
Jon Woodson
The OhiO STaTe UniverSiTy PreSS • COlUmbUS
Copyright © 2011 by The Ohio State University.
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodson, Jon.
Anthems, sonnets, and chants : recovering the African American poetry of the 1930s
/ Jon Woodson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-1146-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8142-1146-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-9245-7 (cd)
1. American poetry—African American authors—History and criticism. 2. Depres-
sions—1929—United States. 3. Existentialism in literature. 4. Racism in literature. 5.
Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935–1936—Influence. I. Title.
PS153.N5W66 2011
811'5209896073—dc22
2010022344
This book is available in the following editions:
Cloth (ISBN 978-0-8142-1146-5)
CD-ROM (ISBN 978-0-8142-9245-7)
Cover design by Laurence Nozik
Text design by Jennifer Shoffey Forsythe
Type set in Adobe Minion Pro
Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials. ANSI Z39.48-1992.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FoR Lynn CuRRieR smith Woodson

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
introduction 1
Chapter 1 the Crash of 1929 and the Great depression:
three Long Poems 15
Chapter 2 existential Crisis: the sonnet and self-Fashioning
in the Black Poetry of the 1930s 69
Chapter 3 “Race War”: African American Poetry on the
italo-ethiopian War 142
A Concluding note 190
Appendix: Poems 197
notes 235
Works Cited 253
index 271

Acknowledgments
My thanks to Dorcas Haller—professor, librarian, and chair of the Library
Department at the Community College of Rhode Island—for finding
the books that I could not find. Carol Doreski sent me many invaluable
books. I thank Alicia Catlos for digitally transcribing the unpublished
anthology of thirties poems which I assembled as an important part
of my research. I am deeply grateful for Amritjit Singh’s longstanding
interest in my work. Without the help of Jean Currie Church, chief
librarian of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard Uni-
versity, this project would not have been possible. Two grants from the
Howard University–Sponsored Faculty Research Program in the Social
Sciences, Humanities, and Education greatly furthered my research and
writing.
The students of my African American Poetry classes and of my
graduate seminars at Howard University were instrumental in helping
me develop my understanding of African American poetry and in
locating poems that would otherwise never have come to light. Libraries
that were generous include the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library
on the History of Women in America (at Harvard University’s Radcliffe
Institute for Advanced Study), the Marcus Christian Collection (at the
University of New Orleans), and the John Hay Library (at Brown Uni-
versity). My affiliate privileges at the Johns Hopkins University’s Milton
S. Eisenhower Library are greatly appreciated.
I am deeply obliged to the anonymous reader, whose patient, per-
severing, and discerning comments about my earlier drafts helped
shape the final form of this book. I am also indebted to the anonymous
reviewer of the final draft of the manuscript and acknowledge the many
ix
x | Acknowledgments
benefits of that reading. The guidance and support of Sandy Crooms, my
editor at The Ohio State University Press, immeasurably sustained me while
I wrote this book.