| Complete Poems Contributor(s): McKay, Claude (Author), Maxwell, William J. (Editor), Maxwell, William J. (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0252075900 ISBN-13: 9780252075902 Publisher: University of Illinois Press OUR PRICE: $32.67 Product Type: Paperback Published: July 2008 Annotation: The complete works of previously unpublished and published poetry of a pioneer of modern black writing |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Poetry | American - African American - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies |
| Dewey: 811.52 |
| Series: American Poetry Recovery |
| Physical Information: 1.17" H x 6.07" W x 9.21" (1.52 lbs) 456 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Containing more than three hundred poems, including nearly a hundred previously unpublished works, this unique collection showcases the intellectual range of Claude McKay (1889-1948), the Jamaican-born poet and novelist whose life and work were marked by restless travel and steadfast social protest. McKay's first poems were composed in rural Jamaican creole and launched his lifelong commitment to representing everyday black culture from the bottom up. Migrating to New York, he reinvigorated the English sonnet and helped spark the Harlem Renaissance with poems such as "If We Must Die." After coming under scrutiny for his communism, he traveled throughout Europe and North Africa for twelve years and returned to Harlem in 1934, having denounced Stalin's Soviet Union. By then, McKay's pristine "violent sonnets" were giving way to confessional lyrics informed by his newfound Catholicism. McKay's verse eludes easy definition, yet this complete anthology, vividly introduced and carefully annotated by William J. Maxwell, acquaints readers with the full transnational evolution of a major voice in twentieth-century poetry. |