Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-23
Unconscious and Conscious Art
Displayed in Poetry BY Negroes

and the recent past. II Is evident that
a literary consciousness 10 awakening
in the race. And after reading Mr..
Johnson's anthology one must admit
that the Negro has a gift for poetry,
even IL the simpler and more spon-
taneous folk rhymes in Prof. Talley's
volume had not demonstrated II.
There is no great poetry in the vol
ume; that is hardly to be expected.
But there Is considerable body Of good
poetry, distinguished by imagination
and insight and written with a fne
sense Of the requirements OF verse.
Some Of the poets represented are edu-
Gated men. college professors or preach
ers or journalists. Others are more
humble workers, one of the best having
been a kitchen worker in restaurant.
Many Of these modern Negro poets
erpress their resentment against the
race that once ensioCed their dnces-
tore and ecen non lvnches their
fello,os.
MIR. JOHNSON. who has put his
W1 own poem, Brothers. into his
anthology IL much more tolerant than
some Of the others. for he only makes
the whites who have burned q Negro ut
the stake for an atrocious crime won.
der what the, victim meant when he SAID
Brothers in spirit. brothers In deed
are We" Claude Mckay, Of whom I
shall speak a little later, is voluble with
hate. Joseph 3. Cotter, Jr., merely
asks:
Why do men sneer when arise
And stand in their councils.
And look them eye to eye,
And speak their tongue?
Is Il because I am black?
The late James D. Corrothers was
In a very different mood when he wrote
of the obstacles in the way Of recog-
milton for a Negro versemaker:
Thus, my true Brother. dream-led.
Forfend the anathema. following the
span.
I hold my head as proudly high
As any man.
But the Negro poet hds not yet
arisen who sees any ocerruhno
Providence in the forced migration OF
his oncestors from Atricd.
vTyHE bitterest OF the whole company
i is Claude Mckay. whose name ap'
pears on the title page OF Harlem
Shadows" (Harcourt. Brace & Co.
Mr.. Mckay was born in Jamaica OF
slave ancestors. He came to this coun-
try in 1912 and has lived here since,
and has received the medal of the In
stitute Of Arts and Sciences in recog-
milton Of his verse. When he came to
the United States he intended to study
agriculture and 60 back to Jamaica and
teach 1t to his people. He had not
been here more than two years before
he gave up the study and abandoned
the plan to return to his native island.
He earned a living at whatever work he
could get. For a time he was waiter
in the dining car on the railroad be.
tween this city and New York. One
Of his poems is an expression Of disgust
for the diners and the other walters
alike. Another begins
I will not toy with 1t nor bend an inch,
Deep in tho secret chambers Of my
heart
I nurse my lifelong hate. and without
finch
] bear II nobly as live my part.
In poem after poem he varies this
expression of hatred, until it seems as
II 1t were morbid obsession. Yet he
has written a tenderly beautiful piece
about his mother and some love lyrics
that sing.
1t Is not strange that the Negro
should feel resentment at the wrongs
his race has suffered at the hands Of
the whites. But as he grows in spirit.
ual and intellectual stature he will dis.
cover that hatred will not redress a
single wrong nor elevate him a single
inch. 1t is from the poet. who is sup
posed to see more deeply and more
clearly than the rest of us. that the rec
ognition Of the futility Of hate is ex.
pected. Was it not Tennyson who sal
that the poet should be lowered with
the hate of hate and the scorn of scorn ?
GEORGE W. DOUGLAS.