The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown

by Sterling A. Brown, James Weldon Johnson (Contributor), Sterling Stuckey (Contributor)

Sterling A. Brown was renowned for his trenchant poetry and scholarship on African American folklife. A contemporary of Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer, Brown became the first poet laureate of the District of Columbia. His celebrated works, including Southern Road , address issues of race through collages of narrative and dialect unique to Brown’s unflinching poetic voice.

Edited by the late distinguished poet Michael S. Harper, this classic collection includes a new foreword by award-winning poet Cornelius Eady and the original introduction by Michael S. Harper, as well as introductions to Southern Road by James Weldon Johnson and Sterling Stuckey. The result is a tour de force by one of the most distinctive poets in American letters.

Genres: Poetry

336 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2020

Reviews

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown by Sterling A. Brown is a publication of Northwestern University Press. Brown was a black professor, folklorist, poet, literary critic, and first Poet Laureate of the District of Columbia. He chiefly studied black culture of the Southern United States and was a full professor at Howard University for most of his career. He was a visiting professor at several other notable institutions, including Vassar College, New York University (NYU), Atlanta University, and Yale University.

A fascinating collection of poetry that takes on several forms. The most natural form to recognize is the lyrical poetry that not only tells a story but does so with a rhythm that feels like it is connected to a blues guitar. Other poems tell of the black man in the small towns of the South. Slavery, violence, and assumed guilt are not left out. Somethings have changed very little:

Let us forgive Ty Kendricks.
The place was Darktown. He was young.
His nerves were jittery. The day was hot.
The Negro ran out of the alley.
And so he shot.

Let us understand Ty Kendricks.
The Negro must have been dangerous,
Because he ran;
And here was a rookie with a chance
To prove himself a man.

The roots to the old South are apparent in the poems:

Old king cotton
Old man cotton
Keeps us slavin’
Till we’ se dead an’ rotten.

The voice of the poems shift from colloquial usage of the 1920s and back to the nineteenth-century vernacular:

I’m Kentucky born,
Kentucky bred,
Gonna brag about Kentucky
Till I’m dead.

Thoroughbred horses,
Hansome, fas’,
I ain’t got nothin’
But a dam’ jackass.

Women as purty
As Kingdom Come,
Ain’t got no woman
‘ Cause I’m black and dumb

For those easily offended, there are plenty of slurs throughout the collection for both black and white races. They serve their purpose well in time and place. It is a reflection of the reality of the time when the poems were written and before. There is a great deal of cultural history presented in the collection. It is also a necessary history of a time many are uncomfortable talking about. An essential part of both American literature and culture.

[Alicia (PrettyBrownEyeReader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

My initial take away after reading this collection is this poet should be studied and taught in the same manner as his contemporaries Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Jean Toomer. This is a new edition of this collection with the addition of a foreword by Cornelius Eady, prolific poet and co founder of Cave Canem.

Mr. Eady writes in his foreword, “The art of Brown is the act of a poet who refuses to blink…” If Mr. Brown had blinked, he would not have been able to capture the language and movements of Black people across the United States of America. The Black vernacular he uses in his poems express issues of Black people during his time: lynchings, share cropping, migration to the North and West.

Mr. Brown’s brilliant storytelling in this collection is showcased in the epic adventure poem, The Last Ride of Wild bill. Conversely, his humorous storytelling is shown in the poem, Elder Mistletoe.

Lovers of poetry especially from the Harlem Renaissance period will enjoy this collection.

I was given the opportunity to review an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley.

[Hopey’s Journey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I requested this arc from NetGalley.

This collection of poems of Sterling A. Brown definitely firstly drew me in by the cover.
However I am very glad that I've requested it from NetGalley, because otherwise I had not know who Sterling A. Brown was.
The fact that it was even stated that many scholars who do study in this field, don't aren taught about his poetry became even clearer to me when I asked around at my creative writing study and even poetry teachers didn't know who I was talking about.

I loved the rhythm and flow of the poetry that just oozed of a style I wasn't familiair with before reading this.
It also made it feel like songs and after finding out that Sterling A. Brown was influenced by jazz and blues in his writing I wasn't surprised that it made me feel that way.

The whole atmosphere was described well and the African-American folklore was nicely interwoven in the poems. It was very descriptive and told in a way that I could picture the scene.
This also definitely made me want to look up more about the Harlem Renaissance.

The fact that Sterling A. Brown keeps the dialect in his poetry made it sometimes a little difficult for me to read it, which might be because I don't have American as my first language, but also kept the spirit of the text alive.

[Elizabeth]

As seen in the Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Modern African American Poetry. The writing in dialect adds a delightful tone to the tales of Slim Greer.