A literary landmark: the biggest, most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published, gathering 250 poets from the colonial period to the present
Across a turbulent history, from such vital centers as Harlem, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and the Bay Area, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. Capturing the power and beauty of this diverse tradition in a single indispensable volume, African American Poetry reveals as never before its centrality and its challenge to American poetry and culture.
One of the great American art forms, African American poetry encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, and protest. The anthology opens with moving testaments to the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion, as enslaved people like Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton and activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper voice their passionate resistance to slavery. Young’s fresh, revelatory presentation of the Harlem Renaissance reexamines the achievements of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen alongside works by lesser-known poets such as Gwendolyn B. Bennett and Mae V. Cowdery. The later flowering of the still influential Black Arts Movement is represented here with breadth and originality, including many long out-of-print or hard-to-find poems.
Here are all the significant movements and currents: the nineteenth-century Francophone poets known as Les Cenelles, the Chicago Renaissance that flourished around Gwendolyn Brooks, the early 1960s Umbra group, and the more recent work of writers affiliated with Cave Canem and the Dark Room Collective. Here too are poems of singular, hard-to-classify figures: the enslaved potter David Drake, the allusive modernist Melvin B. Tolson, the Cleveland-based experimentalist Russell Atkins. This Library of America volume also features biographies of each poet and notes that illuminate cultural references and allusions to historical events.
A “superb study” that “reminds us that Williams remains our contemporary not only for the lively cadences and fresh imagery that animate his poems, but for the ethical imperative of his example” (The Sewanee Review).
Acclaimed essayist and poet Wendell Berry was born and has always lived in a provincial part of the country without an established literary culture. In an effort to adapt his poetry to his place of Henry County, Kentucky, Berry discovered an enduringly useful example in the work of William Carlos Williams. In Williams’ commitment to his place of Rutherford, New Jersey, Berry found an inspiration that inevitably influenced the direction of his own writing.
Both men would go on to establish themselves as respected American poets, and here Berry sets forth his understanding of that evolution for Williams, who in the course of his local membership and service, became a poet indispensable to us all.
“Generously quoting many of Williams’ best lines . . . Berry produces a work of aesthetics more than evaluation, of love more than critique.” —Booklist
Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.
The melancholy, brilliance, passionate lyricism, and torment of Edgar Allen Poe are all well represented in this collection. Here, in one volume, are his masterpieces of mystery, terror, humor, and adventure, including stories such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Pit and the Pendulum, and his finest lyric and narrative poetry—The Raven and Annabel Lee, to name just a few—that defined American romanticism and secured Poe as one of the most enduring literary voices of the nineteenth century.
Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.
Read with confidence.
The Anglo-Saxon poem 'Beowulf' marks the beginning of English literature. Eighth-century in origin, composed to be recited aloud, it told its Anglo-Saxon listeners a story of their Scandinavian ancestors. It celebrates the hero Beowulf, who goes to Denmark and slays the monster Grendel and Grendel's mother. He later becomes the king of Geatland, and in old age meets death in combat with a dragon. Blending history with legend and richly allusive in its narrative, Beowulf portrays an epic conflict of good and evil, generosity and vengeance, life and death. In this edition, the Old English verse text is faced by a page on which almost every word is glossed. Michael Alexander provides full critical apparatus including notes, a map and an illuminating introduction to the poem and its provenance.
Sitting by the barbecue
waiting for sausages and hot dogs
..........
I see a tiny spider
..........
a silver speck
glistening
at its mouth,
climbing the invisible ladder
--from "Dinner Together" by Diana Rivera
This anthology of poems by America's best poets glistens too, and offers its own silvery ladder for readers to climb.
Liz Rosenberg, herself an accomplished poet, wanted to make contemporary poems for adults accessible to a broader readership. She searched for works which, in both feeling and expression, could reach from one age group to another. Then she asked the poets to write about the links between poetry and childhood, and to send photos that showed how they looked when they were young, and who they are today.
The Invisible Ladder is a gift from everyone who contributed to it: a hand extended from those whose art is crafting words to a new generation of readers and writers.
In 1773, a young, African American woman named Phillis Wheatley published a book of poetry that challenged Western prejudices about African and female intellectual capabilities. Based on fifteen years of archival research, The Age of Phillis, by award-winning writer Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, imagines the life and times of Wheatley: her childhood in the Gambia, West Africa, her life with her white American owners, her friendship with Obour Tanner, and her marriage to the enigmatic John Peters. Woven throughout are poems about Wheatley's "age"—the era that encompassed political, philosophical, and religious upheaval, as well as the transatlantic slave trade. For the first time in verse, Wheatley's relationship to black people and their individual "mercies" is foregrounded, and here we see her as not simply a racial or literary symbol, but a human being who lived and loved while making her indelible mark on history.
mothering #1
Yaay, Someplace in the Gambia, c. 1753
after
the after-birth
is delivered
the mother stops
holding her breath
the mid-wife gives
what came before
her just-washed pain
her insanity pain
an undeserved pain
a God-given pain
oh oh oh pain
drum-talking pain
witnessing pain
Allah
a mother offers
You this gift
prays You find
it acceptable
her living pain
her creature pain
her pretty-little-baby
pain
Award-winning author Jorge Argueta treats young readers to a bilingual recipe/poem for the classic Latin American version of rice pudding with cinnamon. From sprinkling the rice into the pot to adding a waterfall of white milk followed by cinnamon sticks, salt stars, and sugar snow, ArguetaÕs recipe is both easy to follow and poetic. Lively illustrations by highly acclaimed Brazilian artist Fernando Vilela feature an enthusiastic young cook who finds no end of joy in making and then slurping up the rice pudding with his family. In ArguetaÕs world, cooking not only satisfies hunger with delicious food but also provides an opportunity for all the senses Ñ and the imagination Ñ to experience joy and fulfillment. This book is wonderful family fun for those who already love rice pudding as well as for those tasting it for the first time.
** Hardback includes 20 bonus pages of additional poetry!**
"I want to tell you everything I know
carry you and guide you
yet somehow, as your tiny finger points
to things in wonder
and your eyes meet mine
the paradigm shifts
I once thought I was to show you the world
when all along you came to show me."
Poignant, raw and beautifully honest pieces on motherhood.
This book comprises 55 poems and prose including viral pieces, 'Dear Mama' & 'I Would Tell Her'.
Jessica Urlichs shares her truths from a vulnerable place of becoming a new Mother. Written from the heart, Jessica's words are inspirational and relatable.
'From One Mom to a Mother' is written in a refreshingly honest tone that will touch the soul of so many on this same beautiful, yet challenging journey. Whether you laugh or cry you will put it down feeling less alone and having made a friend in a book . Jessica shares her passion and love for her children on this tale of self discovery, that two people were born that day.
"A beautiful and emotive collection of writing that made me feel seen and understood through the early stages of motherhood." - Nikki Wolff (Nikki Makeup)
"Your writing can bring a tear to my eyes or a smile to my face, it really helps me feel less alone".
"You put words to feelings I didn't know I had".
"I've never read such incredible words like you write to describe becoming a mother and being a mother"
"Your book and words have saved me over and over again"
'From One Mom to a Mother' is the first book in Jess's collection of poetry with 'All I See is You' being her second and her third and final in the series, 'My After All'. Combined, Jess's poetry books have sold tens of thousands worldwide.
Jessica is also a best selling author of 'The Rainbow In My Heart', a children's picture book on emotions.
Jess's poems can also be found on Etsy!
www.jessicaurlichs.com
Over the last generation, Appalachia has produced a number of women poets who have refined and redefined the boundaries of the region's literature and identity. Her Words focuses on the work of twenty such poets, whose diverse voices have enriched Appalachian literature in particular and American poetry in general. Combining poems, interviews, critical essays, and comments by the poets themselves--some acclaimed nationally and others best known regionally--Her Words celebrates the work of these writers and demonstrates their rightful place as part of the literary canon both within and beyond Appalachia.
Each chapter opens with two poems by the writer under consideration, followed by a commentary that highlights the contributions and distinctive characteristics of that poet. The poets' own perspectives on their work are revealed in conversations and interviews with the critics. This multifaceted approach allows readers an unusually balanced view of the poetic voice and what inspires it. Moreover, Her Words reveals a diversity within Appalachian poetry and culture that is often overlooked. In their work, the poets reflect this richness of the Appalachian experience, whether the writer is a native of the region, a transplant, an "expatriate" living elsewhere, or a sojourner. That legacy includes a pervasive sense of place, particularly as revealed in language and dialect; the value of family; the power of solitude and isolation; and the importance of religious faith.
Her Words sheds light not only on Appalachian women's poetry in all its complexity but also on a segment of contemporary American literature that has too often been neglected by scholars and critics alike.
The Editor: Felicia Mitchell is associate professor of English and director of the writing program at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia. She edited Words & Quilts, a book of poetry, and has published two collections of poetry, Case Hysteries and Earthenware Fertility Figure.
Poet William Stafford wrote, "A poem is not the end, but the beginning, of an excursion." This collection, highlighting American poets born after the beginning of the twentieth century, helps young readers get started on their excursion into understanding poetry. The book includes brief biographies of eleven poets, ranging from Theodore Roethke to Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, and Billy Collins, along with several poems for each writer. It also introduces the techniques of analysis to deepen readers' appreciation of poetry.
New Beginnings is an empowering book for any woman who has experienced an abusive relationship and wants to move forward with a new life. Using creative writing as part of the healing process, the book offers guidance, support, and concrete steps for rebuilding your self-confidence and rediscovering your personal strength and independence.
Each chapter presents a new topic, including first-person stories from formerly abused women, and a guided writing exercise that will spark your creativity and help you explore issues such as grieving and letting go of the old relationship, staying emotionally and physically safe after you have left, establishing a new network of friends and supporters, recognizing and nurturing new relationships that are healthy and satisfying, and setting new life goals - and achieving them.
No one will protect you. Months after being named the 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year, Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. announced his decision to leave the public school system. His career as a high school English teacher had spanned more than a decade but ended abruptly--another casualty of the cruel and dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination that is creeping back into the halls of government and the homes of Americans. At the beginning of Carver's career, an administrator warned him about discussing his otherwise openly gay identity at work: "No one will protect you, including me." A new administration allowed for more freedom, but the initial warning eventually rang true. School officials failed repeatedly to address harassment of students and of Carver himself, until he could no longer endure such a purposeful deterioration of human rights. While Carver's testimony before the House of Representatives brought much-needed attention to the need for protections for LGBTQ+ people in schools, the damage was done.
In Gay Poems for Red States, Carver counters the injustice of a persistent anti-LGBTQ+ movement by asserting that a life full of beauty and pride is possible for everyone. More than a collection of poetry, Carver's earnest and heartfelt verses are for those wishing to discover and understand the vastness of Appalachia, and for the LGBTQ+ Appalachians who long for a future--for a home--in an often unwelcoming place.