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Feb 25, 2020 · Twentieth-century black poets like Helene Johnson, Lucille Clifton, and even Langston Hughes created pastorals rife with nature and also largely informed by their experiences as descendants of enslaved peoples, living in a society that deeply devalued black life.
- Maya Angelou, world-renowned author of numerous poetry collections: “Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
- Valerie June Hockett, author of Maps for the Modern World: “I’ve been busy and need to slow my little tail down and sit and meditate somewhere. I do my walking meditations every day, but just to sit still.
- Amanda Gorman, youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history and the author of The Hill We Climb: “There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it.
- Reyna Biddy, author of A Psalm for Us and I Love My Love: “You’re allowed to miss the people who were bullets to you, but you’re not allowed to let them shoot you again.”
Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry, edited by Camille T. Dungy, provides 180 windows from 93 poets onto views of nature. Capturing in six lines the complexities of history, race and place, E. Ethelbert Miller, in “I Am Black and the Trees Are Green,” offers:
- Lynnette Nicholas
- Poets are interpreters. There are many types of poetry in the world, from love poems that will make you swoon to nature poems and protest poems that examine the world around us in very different ways.
- Countee Cullen. Best-known poems: “Incident” and “Heritage” Countee Cullen was one of the most significant Black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. A graduate of New York University who went on to get a master’s degree in English from Harvard, Cullen was one of the most famous voices of the early 20th century.
- Jean Toomer. Best-known poem: “Blue Meridian” Jean Toomer was a famous Black poet and novelist whose work impacted the Harlem Renaissance and modernist literary movements.
- Langston Hughes. Best-known poems: “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” Langston Hughes isn’t just one of the most well-known Black poets of the early 20th century—he’s one of the most celebrated American poets, period.
Apr 19, 2010 · The anthology of African-American nature poetry features work by contemporary writers, and writers like 18th century poet Phillis Wheatley. Camille T. Dungy, the editor of the collection,...
Jul 26, 2019 · “I think I’m the first man to sit on top of the world.” This quote is attributed to Arctic explorer Matthew Henson (1866-1955). In 1912, Henson wrote A Negro Explorer at the North Pole (2001) a book about his experiences with Robert E. Peary during their 1909 expedition to the geographic North Pole.
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Jul 30, 2020 · Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry By Camille T. Dungy. Because Black experience of nature differs from white experience of nature, the writing between Black and white authors sure as hell is going to be different. A beautiful redefinition of “nature” poetry, if you will. SHOP NOW
