Black Poets of the United States

Jean Wagner (1919-1984) was a professor of American Studies at the University of Grenoble III. His other books include Runyonesque: The Mind and Craft of Damon Runyon and a French translation of Jean Toomer's Cane.

• FOREWORD    xiiiACKNOWLEDGMENTS    xixPREFACE    xxiChapter One: INTRODUCTION       31.    The Negro in the United States       4 Slaves and Free Men       5The Negro “Inferior and Subservient”       9The Mark of Oppression    142.    The Origins of Black Poetry    16 Written Poetry in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries    16Folk Poetry    26PART ONE: PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR AND HIS TIME    37Chapter Two:  THE NEGRO IN THE AMERICAN TRADITION IN DUNBAR’S TIME    391.    The Minstrels    402.    The Plantation Tradition in Poetry    48 Irwin Russell    51Joel Chandler Harris    59Thomas Nelson Page and Armistead C. Gordon    623.    The South’s Revenge    66Chapter Three: PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR    731.    Biography    73 Childhood Years    73Early Successes    75Fame and Its Drawbacks    77The End    792.    Dunbar and the Plantation Tradition    80 Dunbar and the Plantation    81Dunbar and the South    88The Poet and His Theme    923.    Race Consciousness and History    95 Past and Present    96The Search for Heroes    98Dunbar and Racial Injustice    1014.    The Poet of the People    104 The Problem of Dialect    105Dunbar and the Negro Popular Temperament    111The Themes of Dunbar’s Popular Poetry    1155.    The Lyricism of HEARTBREAK    118 Pessimism and Religious Doubts    121Chapter Four: DUNBAR’S CONTEMPORARIES    1271.    James Edwin Campbell    129 The Theme of Interracial Love    130The People in Campbell’s Poetry    1332.    Daniel Webster Davis    1383.    J. Mord Allen    141PART TWO: THE NEGRO RENAISSANCE    147Chapter Five: THE NEGRO RENAISSANCE    1491.    New Forces    151 The Role of W. E. B. Du Bois    151Black Migrations    153Radicalism and the New Spirit    155The Rehabilitation of the Negro Past    1572.    The Problem of Self-Definition    160 The Discovery of the Negro and of Negro Art    162Cultural Dualism and Its Problems    165Art or Propaganda?    1703.    The Poetry of the Renaissance    172 The Poets and Their Public    173The Poets and Their Themes    177Poets in Conflict    190Section A: IN SEARCH OF THE SPIRITUAL    195Chapter Six: CLAUDE McKay    1971.    Biography    198 The Jamaican Years    198The Years in the United States    201Years of Vagabondage    201Home to Harlem    2032.    The Jamaican Sources    204 Authenticity of Form    204Realism of the Peasant Portraits    206Primacy of the Earth    211Rejection of the City    2153.    The Lyricism of Militancy    222 Racial Pride    223Hatred    225Target of Hatred: Evil    230The Limits of Hatred    2354.    Exoticism and the Theme of Africa    2365.    Harlem and Negro Art    2436.    The Spiritual Journey    247Chapter Seven: JEAN TOOMER    2591.    The Destiny of Jean Toomer    2602.    The Poetry of CANE, or, the Pilgrimage to the Origins    2643.    Beyond Race: “Blue Meridian”    272Chapter Eight: COUNTEE CULLEN    2831.    Cullen’s Life    284 A Mysterious Childhood    284The Productive Years    287The Last Years    2912.    The Dictates of the Psyche    291 The Burden of Inferiority    293Death the Liberator    297Pride as Solace    2993.    Race and the African Homeland    301 Race in Cullen’s Poetic Universe    302A Black among Whites    308Garvey and the African Heritage    315Africa as a Pagan Symbol    3204.    Christ as Symbol and Reality    329 Christ as a Sign of Self-Contradiction    330Mysticism and Spiritual Experience    339“The Black Christ”: A Spiritual Testament    341Section B: IN SEARCH OF THE PEOPLE    349Chapter Nine: JAMES WELDON JOHNSON    3511.    Biography    352 From Florida to Broadway    352In the Service of Country and Race    3542.    Dunbar’s Disciple    356 Poetry in Dialect    356Religious and Patriotic Conformism    3583.    Johnson and the New Spirit    3654.    Folklore and Race: Their Rehabilitation    372 The Condemnation of Dialect    375The Experiment of God’s Trombones    377Chapter Ten: LANGSTON HUGHES    3851.    Biography    386 The Restless Years    386Early Successes    389A Literature of Commitment    3912.    From Racial Romanticism to Jazz    393 Racial Romanticism    394Rebellion: Through a Glass Jazzily    4003.    The Poetry of the Masses    416 The Social Setting of the Blues    417Class Consciousness    426Religion and the Masses    4374.    American Democracy: Promises and Reality    444 The American Dream    446The Poet and Reality    4545.    Toward a Synthesis    461 Conclusion: Langston Hughes and Harlem    473Chapter Eleven: STERLING BROWN    4751.    Folk Strength and Folk Frailties    4762.    The Tragic Universe of Sterling Brown    481 The Whites’ Conspiracy    482The Black Man and His Fate    483The Inanity of Faith    4903.    Means for Survival    496Chapter Twelve: CONCLUSION    505BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX    513BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SUPPLEMENT    537INDEX    547

"A monumental work."--Langston Hughes "A matchless study. . . . the best full length study of Black American poetry that has seen print. Wagner has evaluated the major poets from 1890 to 1940 (Dunbar to Hughes) with a superior critical discernment that is wedded to a sociological and psychological approach. . . . The distinguishing factors in Wagner's study are his aggressive grappling with two-sided issues; his lucid, metaphorical prose style; his thorough research; and judicious, carefully reasoned conclusions."--New York Times Book Review