African American Poets is a single-volume reference that contains selected essays from Critical Survey of Poetry, Fourth Edition. Every article in this set was carefully selected by our editors to provide the best information available about the topic covered. The essays in African American Poets discuss such influential poets as Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, Paul Beatty, and Alice Walker. See below for the complete Table of Contents.
African American Poets Table of Contents
African American Poetry
Harlem Renaissance
Angelou, Maya
Baraka, Amiri
Beatty, Paul
Bontemps, Arna
Brooks, Gwendolyn
Brown, Sterling A.
Clifton, Lucille
Cullen, Countée
Dodson, Owen
Dove, Rita
Dunbar, Paul Laurence
Emanuel, James A.
Giovanni, Nikki
Horton, George Moses
Hughes, Langston
Johnson, James Weldon
Kaufman, Bob
Komunyakaa, Yusef
Lorde, Audre
Madhubuti, Haki R.
McKay, Claude
Toomer, Jean
Walker, Alice
Wheatley, Phillis
About Critical Survey of Poetry
Completely updated and expanded, Critical Survey of Poetry, Fourth Edition profiles major poets throughout history and the world, including analyses of their significant individual poems or collections. This new edition includes all poets from the previous edition and adds 145 new ones, covering 843 poets in total.
All the original essays were evaluated for their currency, and 133 of them were replaced or given substantial revision, in most cases by the original contributor. The sections "Other literary forms," "Achievements," "Biography," and "Analysis" were updated to include recent developments: new titles or awards, changes in residence or employment, and shifts in critical and popular reception. For these essays, material on one or more specific poems or collections was added.
For all essays, the bibliographies--lists of the poet's works and sources for further consultation--were revised to provide readers with the latest information. Every overview essay and its bibliography was brought up to date as well.
Essays begin with full data on dates and places of birth and death, and a list of the poet's "Principal Poetry." Next is a brief overview of "Other literary forms" and two longer sections, "Achievements" and "Biography." The longest section, "Analysis," discusses the poet's work and examines several poems. The final section includes a listing of other major works and a bibliography containing up-to-date resources. All essays are signed by the academics and other experts who wrote them.
