Countee Cullen: Collected Poems: (American Poets Project #32) [Kietas viršelis]

The American Poets Project series continues with this stunning collection from a majorand sometimes controversialfigure of the Harlem Renaissance   In his early twenties, Countee Cullen emerged as a central figure in the tumultuous, defiant, intensely creative cultural movement now known as the Harlem Renaissance. Here is the most comprehensive collection of Cullens poetry ever assembled. It begins with his astonishing first book, Color (1925)a debut that made him fa­mous, like Byron, overnight (as H. L. Mencken put it). Cullens intricate, deceptively simple lyrics shocked some early readers with their frank ex­plorations of racial, sexual, and religious themes. They have since become touchstones of the Afri­can American poetic tradition.   The collection follows the evolution of Cul­lens prodigious talents through Copper Sun (1927), The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927), The Black Christ & Other Poems (1929), and The Medea and Some Poems (1935)reprinted for the first time with the illustrations from the original editions. Also in­cluded are playful verses from his childrens book The Lost Zoo (1940); haunting late poems he in­tended to add to On These I Stand (1947) before his death; and dozens of uncollected poems, some never before published, which reveal an intense engagement with the politics of civil rights. To­gether, they afford an unprecedented occasion to revisit a dazzling and distinctive poetic voice.