The Black Poets

by Dudley Randall

Book Overview

"The claim of The Black Poets to being... an anthology is that it presents the full range of Black-American poetry, from the slave songs to the present day. It is important that folk poetry be included because it is the root and inspiration of later, literary poetry. Not only does this book present the full range of Black poetry, but it presents most poets in depths, and in some cases presents aspects of a poet neglected or overlooked before. Gwendolyn...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553275631
• ISBN13: 9780553275636
• Release Date: May 1985
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

The Black Experience in all its Diversity!

If you could only own one book of poetry by African-American poets, this should be the one. It is -- on the one hand -- a legitimate scholarly collection of poetry stemming from slaves through the 1960s,and including renowned poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. But, it is also a barebones, emotional journey into the hearts and minds of a people who have faced the most brutal oppression and adversity ever inflicted upon a people in America -- and survived to tell the tale. But anyone looking for single-minded thinking from the black `community' will not find it here. This collection shows the rich diversity of thought, experience, and insight of African-Americans, including those that push an examination of thought among Civil Rights-minded people in the 60s beyond the traditional with such poems as "What is the Color of Lonely?" This is a book one should own. I bought the library binding edition because it was the only hardcover version available at the time, Worth the extra cash for a hardcover book that will last a lifetime!

Excellent Poetry and Historical Account

I am an author and a poet and will state that this is an excellent job by Dudley Randall. The poems in this anthology flow very well. The section on the Harlem Renaissance is very pleasing; know the struggles encountered and the determination of will to succeed, the poets during that era showed strength and courage and are well documented. The book is a history lesson in itself regarding poets of the past and present. There is a distinct contrasting of poets who are classified as folk and literary poets. The additional distinction between pre-renaissance and post-renaissance poets is also made in the book. Overall, the poems from poets in the anthology are outstanding and give a great blending of African-American History.

A poem for all your moods

I first encountered "The Black Poets" as a college student back in the 1970's. It features a wide selection of poems by many well known Black Poets. Many are humorous, such as "I sing of Shine" others romantic, others revolutionary, but all thought provoking. I couldn't find my old copy so I repurchased another recently. This book is definitely worth owning. It will bring you pleasure whenever you pick it up.

I laughed, I cried, I reflected, and I learned

This book was required reading for a graduate class that I had, and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was simply great. I was introduced to many poets whom I'd never heard of and that was the best part, because I feel that many Blacks don't know about poets who were not mainstream, this leaves a lot of important writers to dangle in the wind without every being recognized by the very people for whom they wrote. This book was great in particular I liked the seculars they were hilarious, they reminded me of the epitaths we used to read in American Lit in high school. Great little book!!!!

"Black Poetry Brought to Life"

I was introduced to this text as an black poetry starved undergraduate about 15 years ago. It simply mesmerized me...was literally a book that I carried around in my pocket for years. Now as a professor of Africana Studies and English, I almost feel priveleged to share this book with my students as some are mesmerized for the first time and I get mesmerized again and again. Dudley Randall remains one of the overlooked giants of black literature...not so much for his own work, but his commitment to building the canon, like his work at Broadside Press with then young poets like Sonia Sanchez and Don. L. Lee (Haki Madhubuti) and this volume of poetry.