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Abstract:
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The diverse voices of African American poets from the nineteenth century have yet to receive their due . The critical gap is regrettable , because the nineteenth -century phase of the African American poetic tradition , although sparser and less philosophically unified than some later phases , nevertheless constituted a true tradition , connecting writers to one another and to writers of the coming century . Nineteenth -century black poets laid the groundwork for their artistic descendants both stylistically (by “signifyin’” on the tropes of their contemporaries ) and thematically (by interrogating Euroamerican claims to exclusive political and moral authority ) , while building communal sites for literary and political activity such as the black press , the book club , the abolitionist circuit , and the university . In order to adequately theorize the nineteenth -century African American poetic tradition , we need a new critical narrative that would contextualize nineteenth -century African American poetry by emphasizing its interactions with various currents of literary and political enterprise in America and abroad . This study will gesture towards some of the possible outlines of such a narrative , while also suggesting a new set of hermeneutics for apprehending the achievements of early black poets , urging an examination of the early black poetic tradition in terms of performativity . A critical emphasis on performativity is particularly well -suited to the explication of nineteenth -century African American poesis for several reasons . Firstly , because the poetry so often centers around acts of repetition and revision , the primary texts are vulnerable to being misunderstood as imitative . By insisting that poetry’s meaning is generated through relationships between poets , texts , and various readers , the performative emphasis helps to spotlight the competitive and revisionary nature of much black poetry . Secondly , when African American poems are read as performances , their political dimensions come into sharp relief . This study examines the performances , personas , and prophecies of George Moses Horton , Frances Harper , Joshua McCarter Simpson , and Albery Allson Whitman in order to generate a deepened critical understanding of nineteenth -century African American poesis . |