2

With these two main divisions, the material falls into a number of sub-divisions. The "professionals" Walt range from poets such as Whitman to the Jewish labor poets.

Whitman was not strictly a labor poet, in that he did not come from (nor celebrate directly) the organized labor movement. However, he is the first important world figure in American literature who all his life, from his very first work, openly and publicly and aesthetically identified his poems with the working man—XXX (quote/available)

You will have found many of his poems to quote on this subject—Song of Occupations, and so on.

Whitman's poems made work respectable in literature, and that gave a new orientation to literature. That is one reason it first attracted notice from the leading Whitman's European critics. It was his labor base with its fundamental good health and optimism that demanded a new form of American. Europeans found it truly American with new democratic strivings of the people for the first time being uttered by a major poetic voice.

Whereas the USA literary circles were XXXX during Whitman's time and XXX until the last half century, still under the spell of American poets who followed a cloistered more European poetic tradition, removed from the sweat of the mechanics who inspired Whitman's chants, if not only directly, but because He saw in them a rude native American figures the possibility of achieving America's destiny.

3

The "professional" category develops after Whitman with poets who arise from the working people, often identified with their union organization, and celebrate the pains and anguish of labor, as well as the hope for a better life.

They are

The examples: The Jewish Labor Poets. XXX in translation
19th Century. The four main ones can be sampled in JEWISH
LIFE ANTHOLGY, 1956, pages 43-58. Also, THE TEAR DROP
MILLIONAIRE and other poems by Morris Rosenfeld, trans
lated by Aaron Kramer, NY 1955)

Many of their poems were sung, and begin to barge into our "folk song" category.

Later figures in this "professional" category would

include the following: (samples in THE CRY FOR JUSTICE)

XXXXCharlotte Perkins Gilman

John G. Neihardt

James Oppenheim

Harry Kemp

Auturo M. Giovannetti

Vachel Lindsay

(these two are probably the best)

Clement Wood

Margaret Widdemer

Alfred Kreymborg.

With Kreymborg and Lindsay, we have entered the realm
known as the "Poetic Renaissance," which is usually dated
with the XXXXX beginning of Poetry magazine, 1912, and
thier first big"discovery-" Carl Sandburg (quote)

4

This "Poetic Renaissance" includes a number of the most important Negro poets, all of whom in one way or another XXX write out of an identification with working people. They are probably all later than your deadline but their names include Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen. James Weldon Johnson is probably within your dates (God (s Trombones).

There are also the "western" poets, whose base is not labor in the factory sense- rather work on the prairies- Bret Harte, Joacquin Miller, William Vaughn Moody - might fit in here.

Also- I forgot above- Horace Traubel- one of the first American-born socialist poets, "Whitman's Boswell," but whose poems are to be found in XXXXX literary anthologies of a few years ago.

There is also- Ralph Chapin, XXXXX an IWW poet of the early 20th Century, XXXXXd Ralph Cheyney- who went to jail about the time of Debs, and for the same reason- opposition to World War 1. Clement Wood, Alter Brody (A Family Album, 1918)

Later figures such as Lola Ridge (The Ghetto, 1918)
Genevieve Taggard, etc come after your deadline.

For samples of the above, in addition to CRY FOR JUSTICE see books cited- also MODERN AMERICAN POETRY, anthology edited by Louis Untermeyer, 1930 edition. POETRY OF THE NEGRO-, 1746-1949- edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps.

Our other major category is Unprofessional, folk or amateur poetry. This is by far the biggest field, but thousands of songs and ballads and is the material contains that is best known to the general public - ie- the millions outside literary circles.

5

The Amateur category XXXX is called such rather
than "folk" because a good deal of the material
is by known authors- None of it was written "in
general" from the "heart of the folk#," etc. It
was all originally the work of some individual. The
distinction is that his product is the work of a
common man, is taken over and often changed dozens of
times by oral tradition, and only gets into the books
later, after it is already firmly established.

The Amateur category sub-divides naturally into
many sub-divisions. Some of them are: occupational,
regional, and national origin.

XXXIXXXIXXX Many occupations are themselves the
field of intensive research.

MINERS: See the three collections by George Kouson. For
one sample, cite DOWN DOWN DOWN by William Keating-
A TREASURY OF AMERICAN FOLK LORE, page 867.

Sailors, an number of collections of sea chanteys. For
one sample that is half land- cite ERIE CANAL- (AMERICAN
BALLADS , p. 29)

COWBOY- also many collections. For one or two
cite COWBOYS LAMENT, I RIDE AN OLD PAINT, CHISHOLM
TRAIL(A Treasury of American Folklore, Botkin, NY 1944)

See following categories in Botkin's Treasury-
starting page 829: SONGS OF SAILORS, SONGS OF THE FARMER

For songs, mostly anonymous, used by labor movement
see HISTORY OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES,
PHILIP FONER, NY 1947, with follow pages for examples
95. 110, 117, 191, 242.

6

( The Oppenheim poem which could be cited is BREAD AND ROSES. It came from the Lawrence, Mass. textile strike, 1912, and will be found in song form in LIFT EVERY VOICE, Peoples Artists, NY 193#.
Ralph Chaplin's SOLIDARITY FOREVER will be found PEOPLES SONG (Puegot Sound) BOOK, p 68. See also ACRES OF GLAMS, p 12, THE FARMER IS Populist THE MAN( from BOXX/XX days in the 80's) . Also other work songs in this collection).

For Railroad Songs: see AMERICAN BALLADS AND FOLK SONGS, BY Lomax and Lomax, NY 1934, including

John Henry, page 3, Casey Jones, p 36

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For others on MEN AT WORK see XXXIX Vol 2, entitled OUR SINGING COUNTRY, NY 1941

In collections such as the forgoing, you have to go through all the material to select the labor or work sings. There are, however, some labor collections, but not easily available in Philly. These include:

SONGS FOR LABOR, Elizabeth Balch, in SURVEY (a magazine) Vol 31, Jan 3, 1914, p 408-12)

Commonwealth Labor SONG BOOK, and Hymnal
NY 1936

Lawrence Gellert: Negro Songs, Me and My Captain, NY 1939

IWW Song Books - Chicago

Rebel Song Book, Rnd School, NY 1935

Red Song Book, Workers Library, NY 1932

American Dolk Songs of Protest# by John Greenway, U of P Press, Phila, 1953 has NO ERISH NEED APPLY, FROM SIX TO SIX (p. 51, 37,) TARRIERS SONG, p 43. IF WE WILL WE CAN BE FREE, Knights of Labor song, p 47. The General Strike, p 49,

page 7

56
FREIGHT HANDLERS STRIKE p 52 Pullman Strike p 56.
A Hayseed Like Me, p 60, THE PEOPLES RALLY CRY p 61
The Lowell Factory Girl. p 122, NO MORE SHALL I WORK
IN A FACTORY, p. 125

There is a border line case with Negro spirituals-
all made by working people, but if they are included-
what about White Spirituals? However, there are some
which XXXXX could hardly be questioned, See The Negro
Caravan SLAVERY CHAIB, p 440, NO MORE AUCTION BLOCK,
441, and among SLAVE SECULARS, p446 We Raise the Wheat,
Promises of Freedom. 447, DID YOU FEED MY COW? 448,
and WORK AND SOCIAL SONGS - Hammer Song. p. 465

I happen to be working in this field, so have most
of the books cited on hand. I still have to research
else
the bibliographies, to see what/is avaiable. There
are Bibliographies of Bibliographies to start with.
Also, the Jefferson School Library in NY should be
researched. For a bibliographical beginning in
fplk material, see Appendix of AMERICAN FOLK SONGS OF
PROTEST.

I myself have more material but it is the cellar
and I cannot get at it in time for these notes.

I am sending you this rough draft for any use it
may be. My own approach is indicated in it, and will be
elaborated elsewhere. EX Namely- there is one line
of culture which includes everything worth while; no
major barrier between art and folk material-" we are all
branches of the same tree. How will you credit your source
in my material ? That needn't worry you for your current
paper. Excuse haste- am in the midst of work- if you want (Over

Labor Poets (or Poetry) from 1865 to 1914- (Civil War
to World War 1-)

I would start by telling the reader something about the
field or scope of your paper. Unlike most first-year theses,
you have not been able to find books or anthologies specifi-
cally covering this field. The first problem is research.
You just cannot select and pick other peoples' brains. There-
fore, this paper is only a preliminary introduction to the
field, and not an exhaustive work.

The field might be considered under two main headings-
professional "art" poetry and- amateur or folk poetry.
While there is no fixed dividing line, professional poetry
is generally poetry published under the author's name and
considered as literature in the literary anthologies. Ama-
teur poetry, often known as "folk poetry," or folk song,"
is material generally found in studies on folk lore, folk
song collections, and so on.

Occasionally, people take hold of a poem by a "pro-
fessional," and it comes to be regarded as folk material.
An example is "Pie in the Sky," by the IWW poet, Joe Hill.
(Page 707, THE CRY FOR JUSTICE.)

With these two main divisions, the material falls into
a number of sub-divisions. The "professionals" range from

- 2 -

poets such as Walt Whitman to the Jewish labor poets.

Whitman was not strictly a labor poet, in that he did not come from (nor celebrate themes directly from) the organized labor movement. However, he is the first important world figure in American literature who all his life, from his very first work, openly and publicly and aesthetically identified his poems with the working man.

Whitman's poems made work respectable in literature, and that gave a new orientation to literature. That is one reason it first attracted notice from the leading European critics. It was Whitman's labor base with its fundamental good health and optimism that demanded new form. Europeans found it truly American with new democratic strivings of the people for the first time being uttered by a major poetic voice.

USA literary circles were, during Whitman's time and until the last half century, still under the spell of American poets who followed a more cloistered, European poetic tradition, removed from the sweat of the mechanics who inspired Whitman's chants. He saw in our "rude native Americans" the possibility of achieving America's destiny.

The "professional" category develops after Whitman, with poets who arise from the working people. They are often identified with union organizations, and celebrate the pains and

- 4 -

important Negro poets, all of whom in one way or another write
out of an identification with working people. They are prob-
ably all later than your deadline but their names include
Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen.
James Weldon Johnson is probably within your dates (God 5
Trombones).

Also- I forgot above- Horace Traubel- one of the first
American-born socialist poets- known chiefly for "Whitman's
Boswell," but whose poems are to be found in literary anthol-
ogies of 25 years ago.

There is also- Ralph Chapin, an IWW poet of the early
20th Century, Ralph Cheyney- who went to jail about the time
of Debs, and for the same reason- opposition to World War 1.
Clement Wood, Alter Brody (A Family Album, 1918). Later figures
such as Lola Ridge (The Ghetto, 1918) Genevieve Taggard, etc.
come after your deadline.

For samples of the above, in addition to CRY FOR JUSTICE
see books cited- also MODERN AMERICAN POETRY, anthology edited
by Louis Untermeyer, 1930 edition. POETRY OF THE NEGRO-, 1946-
1949- edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps.

- 5 -

Our other major category is Unprofessional, folk or amateur poetry. This is by far the biggest field. It contains literarily thousands of songs and ballads and is the material that is best known to the general public, i.e. - the millions outside literary circles.

The category is called Amateur rather than "folk" because a good deal of the material is by known authors- none of it was written "in general" from the "heart of the folk," etc. It was all originally the work of some individual. The distinction is that his product is the work of a common mood, is taken over and often changed dozens of times by oral tradition, and only gets into the books later, after it is already formly established.

MINERS: See the three collections by George Korson. For one sample, cite DOWN DOWN DOWN by William Keating- A TREA-SURY OF AMERICAN FOLK LORE, page 867.

Sailors: A number of collections of sea chanteys. For one sample that is half land- cite ERIE CANAL- (AMERICAN BALLADS, page 29.

COWBOY- Also many collections. For one or two cite

- 6 -

There are, however, some labor collections, but not easily
available. These include:

SONGS FOR LABOR, Elizabeth Balch, in SURVEY (a magazine)
Vol. 31, Jan. 3, 1914, p. 408-12)

Lawrence Gellert: Negro Songs, NY 1936,
Me and My Captain, NY 1939

IWW Song Books - Chicago

Rebel Song Book, Rand School, NY 1935

American Folk Songs of Protest by John Greenway, U of P
Press, Phila, 1953. HAS NO IRISH NEED APPLY, FROM SIX TO SIX
(p. 31, 37,) TARRIERS SONG, p. 43. IF WE WILL WE CAN BE FREE,
Knights of Labor Song, p. 47. The General Strike, p. 49,
FREIGHT HANDLERS STRIKE, p. 52, Pullman Strike, p. 56. A
Hayseed Like Me, p. 60, THE PEOPLES RALLY CRY, p. 61, The
Lowell Factory Girl, p. 122, NO MORE SHALL ID WORK IN A FAC-
TORY, p. 125.

There is a border line case with Negro spirituals- all
made by working people, but if they are included- what about
White Spirituals? However, there are some which could hard-
ly be questioned, See The Negro Caravan SLAVERY CHAIN, p.
440, NO MORE AUCTION BLOCK, 441, and among SLAVE SECULARS,
p. 1446- We Raise the Wheat, Promises of Freedom, 447, DID
YOU FEED MY COW? 448, and WORK AND SOCIAL SONGS - Hammer Song,
p. 465.

* * *

- 7 -

COWBOYS LAMENT, I RID AN OLD PAINT, CHISHOLM TRAIL (A Treasury of American Folklore, Botkin, NY 1944.

See following categories in Botkin's Treasury- starting page 829: SONGS OF SAILORMEN AND RIVERMEN, LUMBER-JACK SONGS, SONGS OF THE FARMER.

For songs, mostly anonymous, used by labor movement see HISTORY OF THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, PHILIP FONER, NY 1947, - with the following pages for examples: 95, 110, 117, 191, 242.

(The Oppenheim poem which could be cited is BREAD AND ROSES. It came from the Lawrence, Mass. textile strike, 1912, and will be found in song form in LIFT EVERY VOICE, Peoples Artists, NY 1953). Ralph Chaplin's SOLIDARITY FOREVER will be found in PEOPLES SONG BOOK, p. 68. See also ACRES OF CLAMS, (Puegot Sound), p. 12, THE FARMER IS THE MAN (from Populist days in the 80's). Also other work songs in this collection).

For Railroad Songs: see AMERICAN BALLADS AND FOLK SONGS, By Lomax and Lomax, NY 1934, including John Henry, page 3, Casey Jones, p. 36.

For others on MEN AT WORK see Vol. 2, entitled OUR SINGING COUNTRY, NY 1941.

In collections such as the foregoing, you have to go through all the material to select the labor or work songs.

- 8 -

I happen to be working in this field, so I have most of the books cited on hand. I still have to research the bibliographies, to see what else is available. There are Bibliographies of Bibliographers to start with. Also, the Jefferson School Library in NY should be researched. For a bibliographical beginning in folk material, see Appendix of AMERICAN FOLK SONGS OF PROTEST.

I myself have more material but I cannot get at it in time for these notes.

I am sending you this rough draft for any use it may be. My own approach is indicated in it, and will be elaborated elsewhere. Namely- there is one line of culture which includes everything worth while; no major barrier between art and folk material- we are all branches of the same tree. How will you credit your source in my material? That need not worry you for your current paper. Excuse haste- am in the midst of work.