Yeah - damn, those lines are so good! She's such a stunning poet. Aw thanks Margaret! I really appreciate it - I was pretty pleased with how it came together. :-)
Fascinating context, Dick - thanks (as always) for providing that. In this case, it makes me reflect on the curious contrast of the modern (in her biography) with a degree of rather traditional “poetic” language - the sort of language that (I think) modernists tended to want to do away with. I don’t necessarily know what to make of this contrast - except to note that it’s intriguing. Thanks for a thought-provoking read!
Glad you enjoyed it Thomas :-) i have a few thoughts in this area - nothing concrete, just some observations that come to mind. Johnson was born in 1880 so belongs to the previous generation, as many 1910s-20s poets did, so has a connection to that world poetically, and was technically a forerunner (and then member) of the Harlem Renaissance by a few years (which wouldn’t fully kick off till the early 20s - Langston Hughes made his debut in 1921, for instance).
Plus - and this is just my view - I think the “modernism” which is understood as a clean break from the previous generation is a bit of a construction of later critics privileging certain poets and poems (and theoretical conceits) over others - who often had a very narrow view of the poetry from the time imo. The preferred term in the 1910s was “new verse” which was really diverse in its approaches and styles, and wasn’t so much a rejection or doing away with past tradition but a striving to find ways to express the new conditions of “modern” life, which included past traditions too. In this sense “modernism” as understood now was really a tiny aspect of the poetic culture, and in my reading I see a lot more post-modern tendencies across the board tbh :-)
Finally - and this I think is important for a poet like Johnson - new black poetry and the Harlem Renaissance weren’t “modernist” in the way that word is used by poetry critics, and didn’t have a focus on doing away with tradition and the past - but rather were strongly driven by wanting to reconnect to the past and their own traditions, due to that being taken from them by colonisation and the slave trade, which included spirituals and blues, etc. So while white modernism is often seen as a rejection of tradition and song, etc., new black verse was far more eclectic in its approach. This is why Langston Hughes, for instance, was largely ignored by (white) modernist critics for most of the 20th century - cause he doesn’t fit intro that rejection of tradition vibe.
Anyway - just a few thinkin points - hope they’re useful :-) as always thanks for the perceptive and thoughtful comment! Really gets me thinking. 💜
Wow, Georgia Douglas Johnson is my favorite poet I have seen you showcase this far! She writes with a vulnerable clarity that really speaks to me. Gonna see if I can find anything of hers in the library system...
I love the one you wrote too -- another powerful ending. It took me a moment to realize that it is connected to "The Heart of a Woman"; there were so many good poems to pick from this time...
So glad you enjoyed these so much Hasse - yeah, Johnson is a helluva poet - all three of her books from the 1910s-20s are online if you didn’t mind reading digital - the 1918 one is mostly formal and rhymed, the 1922 one tends towards more free verse. Both are great! Aw and thanks for the kind words about my one :-) Really appreciate it! Haha I barely clock those connections myself - only realised when LeeAnn pointed it out in another comment - I kinda soak myself in the poems and then just write without thinking about the connections too much, but looking back there are always some good ones. :-)
That seems to be an appropriate creative process for what you are doing here :)
Unfortunately, her books don't appear in the library system here, though she is included in a book on the Harlem Renaissance. I'm generally not a big fan of reading books digitally, but I might have to check this out later. Thanks for the info!
Oh, wow. “And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars.”
And your tribute poem is so beautiful, Dick.
Yeah - damn, those lines are so good! She's such a stunning poet. Aw thanks Margaret! I really appreciate it - I was pretty pleased with how it came together. :-)
Fascinating context, Dick - thanks (as always) for providing that. In this case, it makes me reflect on the curious contrast of the modern (in her biography) with a degree of rather traditional “poetic” language - the sort of language that (I think) modernists tended to want to do away with. I don’t necessarily know what to make of this contrast - except to note that it’s intriguing. Thanks for a thought-provoking read!
Glad you enjoyed it Thomas :-) i have a few thoughts in this area - nothing concrete, just some observations that come to mind. Johnson was born in 1880 so belongs to the previous generation, as many 1910s-20s poets did, so has a connection to that world poetically, and was technically a forerunner (and then member) of the Harlem Renaissance by a few years (which wouldn’t fully kick off till the early 20s - Langston Hughes made his debut in 1921, for instance).
Plus - and this is just my view - I think the “modernism” which is understood as a clean break from the previous generation is a bit of a construction of later critics privileging certain poets and poems (and theoretical conceits) over others - who often had a very narrow view of the poetry from the time imo. The preferred term in the 1910s was “new verse” which was really diverse in its approaches and styles, and wasn’t so much a rejection or doing away with past tradition but a striving to find ways to express the new conditions of “modern” life, which included past traditions too. In this sense “modernism” as understood now was really a tiny aspect of the poetic culture, and in my reading I see a lot more post-modern tendencies across the board tbh :-)
Finally - and this I think is important for a poet like Johnson - new black poetry and the Harlem Renaissance weren’t “modernist” in the way that word is used by poetry critics, and didn’t have a focus on doing away with tradition and the past - but rather were strongly driven by wanting to reconnect to the past and their own traditions, due to that being taken from them by colonisation and the slave trade, which included spirituals and blues, etc. So while white modernism is often seen as a rejection of tradition and song, etc., new black verse was far more eclectic in its approach. This is why Langston Hughes, for instance, was largely ignored by (white) modernist critics for most of the 20th century - cause he doesn’t fit intro that rejection of tradition vibe.
Anyway - just a few thinkin points - hope they’re useful :-) as always thanks for the perceptive and thoughtful comment! Really gets me thinking. 💜
That all sounds pretty compelling to me, Dick. The last point is especially fascinating and thought-provoking - thanks!! 🙂
Wow, Georgia Douglas Johnson is my favorite poet I have seen you showcase this far! She writes with a vulnerable clarity that really speaks to me. Gonna see if I can find anything of hers in the library system...
I love the one you wrote too -- another powerful ending. It took me a moment to realize that it is connected to "The Heart of a Woman"; there were so many good poems to pick from this time...
So glad you enjoyed these so much Hasse - yeah, Johnson is a helluva poet - all three of her books from the 1910s-20s are online if you didn’t mind reading digital - the 1918 one is mostly formal and rhymed, the 1922 one tends towards more free verse. Both are great! Aw and thanks for the kind words about my one :-) Really appreciate it! Haha I barely clock those connections myself - only realised when LeeAnn pointed it out in another comment - I kinda soak myself in the poems and then just write without thinking about the connections too much, but looking back there are always some good ones. :-)
That seems to be an appropriate creative process for what you are doing here :)
Unfortunately, her books don't appear in the library system here, though she is included in a book on the Harlem Renaissance. I'm generally not a big fan of reading books digitally, but I might have to check this out later. Thanks for the info!
"When I rise above the earth..." in conversation with "When we return to the stars" ...
Ohhh - hadn't noticed that connection! Thanks LeeAnn, lovely conversation to point out. :-)
❤️
💜💜💜
My heart breaks, breaks, breaks with the first poem and with that last question of yours, Dick. 🖤
Yeah, Johnson certainly knows how to pack a punch! And that poem’s defs one of her finest :-) Aw thanks - appreciate it so much 💜