{"product_id":"the-vintage-book-of-african-american-poetry-isbn-9780375703003","title":"The Vintage Book of African American Poetry","description":"In \u003cb\u003eThe Vintage Book of African American Poetry\u003c\/b\u003e, editors Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton present the definitive collection of black verse in the United States--200 years of vision, struggle, power, beauty, and triumph from 52 outstanding poets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the neoclassical stylings of slave-born Phillis Wheatley to the wistful lyricism of Paul Lawrence Dunbar . . . the rigorous wisdom of Gwendolyn Brooks...the chiseled modernism of Robert Hayden...the extraordinary prosody of Sterling A. Brown...the breathtaking, expansive narratives of Rita Dove...the plaintive rhapsodies of an imprisoned Elderidge Knight . . . The postmodern artistry of Yusef Komunyaka.  Here, too, is a landmark exploration of lesser-known artists whose efforts birthed the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movements--and changed forever our national literature and the course of America itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeticulously researched, thoughtfully structured, \u003cb\u003eThe Vintage Book of African-American Poetry\u003c\/b\u003e is a collection of inestimable value to students, educators, and all those interested in the ever-evolving tradition that is American poetry.Michael S. Harper has twice been nominated for the National Book Award.  He is University Professor, Brown University, and lives in Providence, Rhode Island.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnthony Walton is the recipient of a 1998 Whiting Writer's Award.  He lives in Brunswick, Maine.\u003cb\u003e\"The Slave's Complaint\"\u003cbr\u003eby George Moses Horton (1797?-1883?)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAm I sadly cast aside,\u003cbr\u003eOn misfortune's rugged tide? \u003cbr\u003eWill the world my pains deride\u003cbr\u003e         Forever? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMust I dwell in Slavery's night, \u003cbr\u003eAnd all pleasure take its flight, \u003cbr\u003eFar beyond my feeble sight, \u003cbr\u003e         Forever? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWorst of all, must hope grow dim, \u003cbr\u003eAnd withhold her cheering beam? \u003cbr\u003eRather let me sleep and dream\u003cbr\u003e         Forever! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomething still my heart surveys, \u003cbr\u003eGroping through this dreary maze; \u003cbr\u003eIs it Hope?--they burn and blaze\u003cbr\u003e         Forever! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeave me not a wretch confined, \u003cbr\u003eAltogether lame and blind--\u003cbr\u003eUnto gross despair consigned, \u003cbr\u003e         Forever! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHeaven! in whom can I confide? \u003cbr\u003eCanst thou not for all provide? \u003cbr\u003eCondescend to be my guide\u003cbr\u003e         Forever: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd when this transient life shall end, \u003cbr\u003eOh, may some kind, eternal friend\u003cbr\u003eBid me from servitude ascend, \u003cbr\u003e         Forever! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Learning to Read\"\u003cbr\u003eby Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVery soon the Yankee teachers\u003cbr\u003e   Came down and set up school; \u003cbr\u003eBut, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,-- \u003cbr\u003e   It was agin' their rule. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOur masters always tried to hide\u003cbr\u003e   Book learning from our eyes; \u003cbr\u003eKnowledge didn't agree with slavery--\u003cbr\u003e   'Twould make us all too wise. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut some of us would try to steal\u003cbr\u003e   A little from the book, \u003cbr\u003eAnd put the words together, \u003cbr\u003e   And learn by hook or crook. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI remember Uncle Caldwell, \u003cbr\u003e   Who took pot-liquor fat\u003cbr\u003eAnd greased the pages of his book, \u003cbr\u003e   And hid it in his hat. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd had his master ever seen\u003cbr\u003e   The leaves upon his head, \u003cbr\u003eHe'd have thought them greasy papers, \u003cbr\u003e   But nothing to be read. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd there was Mr. Turner's Ben, \u003cbr\u003e   Who heard the children spell, \u003cbr\u003eAnd picked the words right up by heart, \u003cbr\u003e   And learned to read 'em well. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, the Northern folks kept sending \u003cbr\u003e   The Yankee teachers down; \u003cbr\u003eAnd they stood right up and helped us, \u003cbr\u003e   Though Rebs did sneer and frown. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, I longed to read my Bible, \u003cbr\u003e   For precious words it said; \u003cbr\u003eBut when I begun to learn it, \u003cbr\u003e   Folks just shook their heads, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd said there is no use trying, \u003cbr\u003e   Oh! Chloe, you're too late; \u003cbr\u003eBut as I was rising sixty, \u003cbr\u003e   I had no time to wait. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo I got a pair of glasses, \u003cbr\u003e   And straight to work I went,\u003cbr\u003eAnd never stopped till I could read\u003cbr\u003e   The hymns and Testament. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen I got a little cabin--\u003cbr\u003e   A place to call my own--\u003cbr\u003eAnd I felt as independent\u003cbr\u003e   As the queen upon her throne. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge Moses Horton\u003c\/b\u003e (1797?-1883?), author of \"The Slave's Complaint\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGeorge Moses Horton, at his best, was a poet of daring intensity and vast ambition. Born about 1797 in Northhampton County, North Carolina, he was a slave for most of his life, until Emancipation in 1865. Horton, who taught himself to read, found his way into the hearts of many unwitting belles of North Carolina through his selling of personalized love lyrics to students at nearby Chapel Hill. He furthered his education by borrowing what books he could from these students. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMany of Horton's best poems concern the topic of slavery. His \"On Hearing of the Intention of a Gentleman to Purchase the Poet's Freedom,\" \"On Liberty and Slavery,\" and \"The Slave's Complaint\" examine the slave's position in clean and learned verses. \"George Moses Horton, Myself\" captures in its paced, cool contemplativeness and terse lyrics some of the unresolved strivings of the poet. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHorton had hoped to purchase his freedom with the sales of his first book of poems, \u003ci\u003eThe Hope of Liberty\u003c\/i\u003e (published in Raleigh in 1829), the first full volume of verse published by an African American since Phillis Wheatley's some thirty years before. But he fell short of this goal, living instead through three generations of Horton ownership. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Hope of Liberty\u003c\/i\u003e was reissued in 1837 in Philadelphia under the title \u003ci\u003ePoems by a Slave\u003c\/i\u003e. Horton's second volume, \u003ci\u003eNaked Genius,\u003c\/i\u003e came to print in 1865, the year in which he escaped to the Northern infantry then occupying Raleigh. Little was heard of Horton after this point, and it is generally assumed that he lived the remainder of his life in Philadelphia, where he died in about 1883. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrances E. W. Harper\u003c\/b\u003e (1825-1911), author of \"Learning to Read\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrances Ellen Watkins Harper was born free in Baltimore in 1825. By the time of her death in 1911, she had become almost an institution in both literary and political circles. Harper used what seems to have been a tireless energy to publish countless poems, articles, essays, and novels examining both racial and gender division among Americans. Often thought of as the inaugural \"protest poet,\" she presented her themes in graceful rhetoric, skillful metaphor, allusion, and allegory, embracing the demands of her craft along with the exigencies of the social moment. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHarper worked ably and extensively in her lifetime with the Underground Railroad, the Maine Anti-Slavery Society, the Women's Christian Temperance movement, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the American Equal Rights Association, the Universal Peace Union, the National Council of Women, and the National Association of Colored Women. Her \u003ci\u003ePoems on Miscellaneous Subjects\u003c\/i\u003e was published in 1854, with a preface by William Lloyd Garrison. This volume proved so popular that it went through over twenty reprints in the author's lifetime. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHarper was also the author of \u003ci\u003eMoses: A Story of the Nile,\u003c\/i\u003e published in 1869, \u003ci\u003ePoems\u003c\/i\u003e in 1871, and \u003ci\u003eSketches of Southern Life\u003c\/i\u003e in 1873. \u003ci\u003eIola Leroy,\u003c\/i\u003e one of the more widely read novels written by an African American of the nineteenth century, was published in 1893.200 Years of Vision, Struggle, Power, Beauty, and Triumph from 50 Outstanding Poets","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300858974437,"sku":"NP9780375703003","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375703003.jpg?v=1767742084","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-vintage-book-of-african-american-poetry-isbn-9780375703003","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}