Stephen Henderson has edited an anthology of the best of black poetry with an emphasis on the poetry of the 60's. But this anthology differs from others in significant ways. First, the introduction is extensive, giving tentative answers to such questions as: What makes a poem black? Who decides? What criteria does one use? The author's thesis is that the new black poetry's main referents are black speech and black music. Second, the author explores the many forms that black poets use, commenting on what is black technically in the poetry. Third, the poems anthologized include examples from the oral (folk sermon, spirituals, blues, ballad, rap) as well as the literary tradition. -- From publisher's description.

Previous studies of African poetry have tended to concentrate either on its political content or on its relationship to various European schools. This book examines West African poetry in English and French against the background of oral poetry in the vernacular. Do the roots of such poetry lie in Africa or in Europe? In committing their work to writing, do poets lose more than they gain? Can the immediacy of oral performance ever be recovered? Robert Fraser's account of two centuries of West African verse examines its subjugation to a succession of international styles: from the heroic couplet to the austerity of experimental Modernism. Successive chapters take us through the Négritude movement and the emergence of anglophone free verse in the 1950s to the rediscovery in recent years of the neglected springs of orality, which is the subject of the concluding chapter.

Book of African-inspired Poetry Released Stephen Abara brings refined works of word art to the attention of the world, sharing the culture and challenges of Africa with the rest of humankind ONTARIO, Canada-- In 2008, Stephen Abara, at that time the president of the Glendon African Network, set out to organize a poetry competition within their university to further espouse understanding and support for the African people, their culture, and the challenges that face them. This book, ANTHOLOGY OF AFRICAN POETRY, is an outgrowth of that poetry competition, bringing the beauty, emotions, and sentiments of these Africa-inspired poets to a broader audience. In this charming, informative and highly educative book-Anthology of African Poetry-written in English and French by the young intellects at Glendon College, York University, readers will come to realize that one cannot run away from his or her problems. The past can always be found in the present, and has proven to be essential to oral tradition and literature. The poems in this book are both traditional, free verse and modern. They aim to provide readers of African descent and non-Africans with an enhanced understanding of African lifestyle and identity. Opening this book to any page will allow readers to discover a new poem to treasure or delight in all the poems, one at a time, to feel the full measure of Africa's modern and contemporary poetry s vibrancy and abundance and depiction of its people home and abroad through arts and cultures.

This is an extraordinarily well-balanced collection of essays focused on varied expressions of African American Rhetoric; it also is a critical antidote to a preoccupation with Western Rhetoric as the arbiter of what counts for effective rhetoric. Rather than impose Western terminology on African and African American rhetoric, the essays in this volume seek to illumine rhetoric from within its own cultural expression, thereby creating an understanding grounded in the culture's values. The consequence is a richly detailed and well-researched set of essays. The contribution of African American rhetoric can no longer be rendered invisible through neglect of its tradition. The essays in this volume neither seek to displace Western Rhetoric, nor function as an uncritical paen to Afrocentricity and Africology. This volume is both timely and essential; timely in advancing a better understanding of the richly textured history that is expressed through African American discourse, and essential as a counterpoint to the hegemonic influence of Greek and Roman rhetoric as the origin of rhetorical theory and practice. Written in the spirit of a critical rhetoric, this collection eschews traditional focus on public address and instead offers a rich array of texts, in musical and other forms, that address publics.

Devoted chiefly to the period from 1965-1976.

Offers a critical history of African American poetry from the transatlantic slave trade to present day hip-hop.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this book, Tanure Ojaide explains the uniqueness of modern African poetry, which he sees as a product of African orature and the Western literary tradition. The volume fittingly begins with "African Literature and Cultural Identity," which establishes areas of cultural identity of modern African literature in general. The next chapter strives to define modern African poetic aesthetics. The book then examines both the oral and the rhythmic aspects of modern African poetry. Having established the defining characteristics of modern African poetry, Ojaide takes on the history of the art form. "The Changing Voice of History: Contemporary African Poetry" and "New Trends in Modern African Poetry" contrast the newer poetry to that of the older generation while acknowledging the influence of the old on the new. The book then goes on to highlight African women's poetry and compare African-American poetry with modern African poetry. After the author -- himself a poet -- talks about his background and generation, the collection concludes with "Poetic Imagination in Black Africa." Ojaide brings the intuitive knowledge of a practitioner and scholar to his literary criticism of poetry, examining and interpreting modern African poems with lucidity, passion, and freshness. His knowledge of American and English literatures allows him to make apt comparisons and bring out the uniqueness of modern African poetry. Touching on the themes, techniques, and other areas, Poetic Imagination in Black Africa will help readers achieve a deeper understanding of the complex and diverse world of modern African poetry.

A critical guide to some of the most important issues in modern African philosophy. Topics include the legacy of colonialism, the challenges of post-independence Africa and African oral and written philosophical traditions.