Complete Poems (The American Poetry Recovery Series) - Hardcover

McKay, Claude; Maxwell, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252028821 ISBN 13: 9780252028823

Verlag: University of Illinois Press, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

Although best known for his tales, Edgar Allan Poe himself thirsted for fame primarily as a poet. This volume, assembled by the eminent Poe scholar Thomas Ollive Mabbott, is the single most authoritative edition of Poe's poems ever published: 101 poems and their variants, including such gems as "The Raven," "The Bells," and "Annabel Lee," as well as previously uncollected poems, fragments, verses he published in reviews he wrote, and poems attributed to him.
In this exhaustive collection, Mabbott takes a fresh look at these texts, aiming "to present what [Poe] wrote, to explain why he wrote it, to tell what he meant when he wrote it (if that be in any way obscure), and to give a history of its publication." Containing the definitive poems as well as pertinent biographical background, full annotations, and a meticulous enumeration of successive texts and variants, Mabbott's edition stands as a firm foundation for Poe scholarship as well as for more general appreciation.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

A pioneer of black modernism, Claude McKay's varied and influential books include the poetry collections Harlem Shadows and Songs of Jamaica, and the novels Banjo, Home to Harlem, and Banana Bottom.

William J. Maxwell is an associate professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author of the award-winning New Negro, Old Left: African-American Writing and Communism between the Wars.

 

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Complete Poems

By Claude McKay, William J. Maxwell

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS

Copyright © 2004 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-252-02882-3

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................
vii
INTRODUCTION: CLAUDE MCKAY—LYRIC POETRY IN THE AGE OF CATACLYSM William 
J. Maxwell.................................................................
xi
Jamaican Periodical Poetry, 1911–12........................................
1
Songs of Jamaica (1912)....................................................
19
Constab Ballads (1912).....................................................
86
Early English and American Poetry, 1916–22.................................
130
Harlem Shadows (1922)......................................................
152
"The Clinic," circa 1923...................................................
197
"The Years Between," 1925–34...............................................
208
"Cities," circa 1934.......................................................
223
"The Cycle," circa 1943....................................................
241
Final Catholic Poetry, 1945–47.............................................
270
NOTES TO THE POEMS.........................................................
281
WORKS CITED IN NOTES TO THE POEMS..........................................
393
INDEX OF FIRST LINES.......................................................
395
INDEX OF TITLES............................................................
401

CHAPTER 1

    JAMAICAN PERIODICAL POETRY, 1911–12

    Agnes o' de Village Lane

    Fancy o' me childish will,
    Playin' now before me eyes,
    Sadly I remember still
    How much once your love I prize',
    As I think o' you again,
    Agnes o' de village lane.

    In de school-room worn an' old
    Fus' I saw your pretty smile,
    Heard your footsteps firm an' bold,
    Loved your face so free o' guile,
    An' your soul so clear of stain,
    Agnes, Agnes o' de lane.

    Oh, I suffered much for you,
    For dey t'umped an' beat poor me
    Tell me skin tu'n black an' blue,
    Tryin' ef day could part we;
    But we closer grew we twain,
    Heartful Agnes o' de lane.

    Little love t'oughts o' me breast
    I wrote by de tin lamp's light:
    P'raps dey were not of de best
    (Bunny showed me what to write),
    Yet you never would complain,
    Easy Agnes o' de lane.

    But dere came de partin' day,
    An' they took me from you, dear,
    An' de passion died away,
    But de memory was there:
    Long you've lingered in me brain,
    Plump-cheeked Agnes o' de lane.

    A'ter many a weary year,
    Sad, sad news o' you I heard,
    News dat brought a scaldin' tear
    At de sound o' every word;
    An' my mind, filled wid disdain,
    Grieved for Agnes o' de lane.

    Agens o' de lane no more,
    For you went away, my pet,
    Agnes once so sweet an' pure,
    To a miserable deat';
    Oh, de 'membrance brings me pain,
    Fallen Agnes o' de lane!

    1911


    Sweet Times

    Jes' do'n de track ya, me Partie, oh hush!
    Jes' right do'n deh under dat jackna-bush,
    Come, come, me Partie, widout eben fear,
    For not a def man caan' trouble we here.

    Here where de pimenta grass lak a mat
    Lay do'n so lebel an' bloomin' an' fat,
    We'll hab a sweet chat: dear, why hesitate?
    Dere's no one home, an' no reason to wait.

    Wha' mek you actin' so bashful te-day?
    Ma gone to meetin' an' pa is away;
    All de long evenin' is fe we alone,
    Let's mek de most o' it 'fo' it is done.

    Partie, you' kiss come to me somewhat cold,
    Favour you don't lub me now as of old;
    I wonder what you t'ink 'tis I've done strange
    Dat can now cause you de old ways fe change.

    Ef you don't lub me as fus' time again,
    Tell me de trut' eben though it gives pain;
    For, oh, my darlin', I'd reder it so,
    More than to think I am forcin' on you.

    Say dat, me Partie, you still hab a dread?
    How can you ever at all be afraid?
    Under dis bush we can never be seen.
    'Sides I'm a big gal now, over sixteen.

    Ah! now me feel dat you lub me, my Part!
    Press me jes' tight, tighter yet to you' heart!
    Oh! could you know all de lub, all de bliss,
    Dat come to me t'rough your hug, t'rough your kiss!

    While I sit here leanin' glad on your breast,
    Watchin' de grassy-bird fly to its nest,
    Look how de black shadows softly 'long creep,
    Silently passin' to deir well-earned sleep.

    But me I would sit 'douten one t'ought o' bed,
    Long as I hab you to fingle me head:
    Ah! de sweet trimblin' dat runs t'rough me frame
    When you jes' kiss me an' whisper me name!

    Partie, dear Partie, mumma wi' soon come,
    So then de last hug an' kiss gi' you' Jum:
    I wonder ef, when we're made one, we two
    Will to each udder for eber keep true.

    1911


    De Hailstorm

    We sheltered from de rain, one night,
    Beneat' a spreadin' mango-tree;
    De lighnin' cut shone clear an'...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Illinois Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2004
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0252028821
• ISBN 13: 9780252028823
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 456
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande