African American Poetry: A Digital AnthologyMain MenuFull Text Collection: Books Published by African American Poets, 1870-1928Long list of 100+ full texts books of poetry available on this "Anthology"Author Pages: Bios and Full Text CollectionsList of African American poets onAfrican American Periodical Poetry (1900-1928)A collection of African Amerian Periodical Poetry, mostly focused on 1900-1928Areas of Interest: Topics and ThemesAfrican American Poetry: Anthologies of the 1920sPoetry by African American Women (1890-1930): A Reader and GuideOpen access textbook introducing readers to Poetry by Black WomenExploring Datasets related to African American poetryAbout This Site: Mission Statement, Contributors, and Recent UpdatesAn account of the history and evolution of this site by the site editor.Further Reading / Works CitedAmardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
Sonnet
12022-01-08T08:11:11-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e12137Sonnet Tagplain2024-10-06T08:54:29-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1The sonnet was an important poetic form used by many Black writers during this period, including writers from the older generation (i.e., James Weldon Johnson, Carrie Williams Clifford) as well as younger writers like Claude McKay.
As of August 2024, we have identified and tagged about 118 poems in the anthology as sonnets. There are likely more poems in the collection yet to be tagged. -AS
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12024-01-26T09:31:48-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Poetic Form in African American PoetryAmardeep Singh5plain2024-01-26T16:18:25-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
Contents of this tag:
12023-06-01T09:36:45-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1T. Thomas Fortune, "Lincoln" (1902)7plain2024-07-11T10:13:15-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-07-16T12:05:54-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Chapter 3a: Social Justice in Sonnet Form, 1910-19194Chapter 3, Section a of Poetry by African American Women: A Reader and Guideplain2024-07-29T14:03:37-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T11:13:32-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Georgia Douglas Johnson, "A Sonnet: to the Mantled" (1917)4plain2022-07-02T08:00:30-04:0005/01/1917Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-07-30T08:20:03-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "If We Must Die" (1919)3plain2024-05-12T12:22:55-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T10:09:59-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "On the Road" (1922)3plain2024-07-09T15:08:40-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45
12022-01-19T11:05:34-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "Lincoln" (1922)3plain2024-01-12T07:09:04-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T09:59:40-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "In Bondage" (1921)3plain2024-05-12T12:38:03-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-05-14T07:27:16-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1James D. Corrothers, "Paul Laurence Dunbar" (1906)3plain2024-05-07T09:25:55-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T13:54:34-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1James D. Corrothers, "The Negro Singer" (1913)3plain2022-08-16T12:35:05-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-08T08:11:44-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel" (1925)3plain2024-03-08T13:16:47-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T11:06:23-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "The New Year" (1920)3plain2022-05-23T09:29:58-04:0004/01/1920Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-05-21T07:17:11-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Angelina Weld Grimke, "To the Dunbar High School (A Sonnet)" (1917)3Also known as Angelina W. Grimke, Angelina Grimkeplain2024-07-15T10:20:45-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-12T12:13:19-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "Sonnet"/Violets" (1922)3Poem Published in The Book of American Negro Poetry, 1922plain2024-07-09T07:08:30-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-08T09:38:58-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "To My Friends" (1925)2plain2024-07-09T14:52:40-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45
12022-06-25T08:00:56-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)2plain2024-01-11T08:57:36-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-06-12T15:28:32-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1919)2plain2024-05-12T12:33:59-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T11:17:57-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Three Sonnets by Carrie Williams Clifford (1922)2plain2025-04-20T15:38:18-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-05-30T07:45:43-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1James D. Corrothers, "Up! Sing the Song" (1913)2plain2024-05-03T14:09:51-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-06-06T16:07:48-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Helene Johnson, "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem" (1927)2plain2023-06-07T08:29:47-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-02T10:20:56-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Joseph S. Cotter, "The Prophet" (1920)2plain2024-05-03T15:04:00-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T10:13:35-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "Dawn in New York" (1922)2plain2024-07-09T15:13:05-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45
12022-03-14T10:22:58-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Leslie Pinckney Hill, "Father Love" (1919)2plain2024-01-26T10:02:19-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T10:06:34-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "On a Primitive Canoe" (1922)2plain2024-03-29T07:44:43-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T10:04:03-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "I Shall Return" (1922)2plain2023-06-12T15:21:28-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-03T12:19:14-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Joseph S. Cotter, Sr., "Shakespeare's Sonnet" (1923)2plain2022-08-03T12:30:10-04:0009/01/1923Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-07-21T16:21:20-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "From the Dark Tower" (1926)2plain2024-04-13T07:47:37-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-18T10:05:06-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1James D. Corrothers, "In a Southland Vale" (1904)2plain2024-05-07T10:08:56-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T09:55:53-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The White City" (1921)2plain2024-05-12T20:08:29-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-07-21T17:10:09-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "Negro Dancers" (1922)2Three sonnets by Claude McKay. Published in The Liberator (1919), Harlem Shadows, and The New Negro (1925)plain2024-05-12T11:27:22-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-07-30T08:27:04-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "A Capitalist at Dinner" (1919)2plain2024-05-12T12:05:28-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-05-26T08:00:50-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Lewis Alexander, "The Dark Brother" (1927)2plain2024-03-15T14:45:44-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-06-28T11:52:13-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "To Phyllis Wheatley (First African Poetess)" (1922)2Poem dedicated to Phillis Wheatley, also known as Phillis Wheatley Petersplain2024-07-26T14:15:29-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-04-25T10:47:12-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Charles Bertram Johnson, "The Cup of Knowledge" (1905)1plain2024-04-25T10:47:12-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-26T09:23:26-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The Castaways" (1922)1plain2022-08-26T09:23:26-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-02-15T18:25:21-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "To One Untrue" (1906)1plain2024-02-15T18:25:21-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-06-13T13:37:44-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "La Paloma in London" (1922)1plain2024-06-13T13:37:44-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-04-26T14:28:32-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1James D. Corrothers, "To -------- (A Sonnet)" (1901)1plain2024-04-26T14:28:32-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-10-11T12:14:32-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Placido, "Farewell to my mother" (translated by James Weldon Johnson) (1922)1Poem by Afro-Latino poet Placido (Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdes)plain2024-10-11T12:14:32-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-26T09:35:04-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The Night Fire" (1922)1plain2022-08-26T09:35:04-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T11:03:56-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1The Gift by Carrie Williams Clifford1plain2022-01-19T11:03:56-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-06-05T17:29:49-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)1plain2023-06-05T17:29:49-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-12-13T09:21:39-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1James Edward McCall, "The New Negro" (1927)1plain2022-12-13T09:21:39-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-03-05T11:51:44-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1George Leonard Allen, "To a Negro Musician" (1927)1plain2024-03-05T11:51:44-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-03-16T07:50:15-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "A Prayer" (1928)1plain2024-03-16T07:50:15-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-01-19T11:07:50-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Race-Hate by Carrie Williams Clifford1plain2022-01-19T11:07:50-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-06-14T07:34:46-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Paul Laurence Dunbar, "The Path" (1896)1plain2024-06-14T07:34:46-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-03-05T12:03:54-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "A Thorn Forever In the Breast" (1927)1plain2024-03-05T12:03:54-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-06-19T09:09:50-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1H. Cordelia Ray, "Sonnets" (1893)1Small collection of Sonnets by H. Cordelia Ray, Self-published in New Yorkplain2024-06-19T09:09:50-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-02-08T13:48:16-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1T. Thomas Fortune, "Diamond in the Clay" (1905)1plain2024-02-08T13:48:16-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-05-09T11:58:56-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "The Love Tree" (1927)1plain2023-05-09T11:58:56-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-07-12T12:39:22-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45T. Thomas Fortune, "The Elsmeres" (1906)1plain2024-07-12T12:39:22-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45
12024-02-08T13:56:21-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1T. Thomas Fortune, "Edgar Allen Poe" (1905)1plain2024-02-08T13:56:21-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-05-09T13:19:07-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "And When I Think" (1927)1plain2023-05-09T13:19:07-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-04-16T10:29:38-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "Like a Strong Tree" (1925)1plain2024-04-16T10:29:38-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-05-17T11:11:15-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "Frederick Douglass" (1917)1plain2022-05-17T11:11:15-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-06-30T21:18:21-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Charles Bertram Johnson, "The Dreamer" (1905)1plain2024-06-30T21:18:21-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-06-12T15:29:41-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)1plain2023-06-12T15:29:41-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-26T09:18:27-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The Lynching" (1920)1plain2022-08-26T09:18:27-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-07-12T12:46:35-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45Charles Bertram Johnson, "To an Oak" (1906)1plain2024-07-12T12:46:35-04:00Sarah Thompsone3d3ad1a94808ed1bf8d547ed195e5acd8b63d45
12024-02-08T13:58:06-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1T. Thomas Fortune, "Beyond the Veil" (1905)1plain2024-02-08T13:58:06-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-06-30T21:19:46-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1T. H. Malone, "Constancy" (1905)1plain2024-06-30T21:19:46-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-06-12T15:30:49-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922)1plain2023-06-12T15:30:49-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-26T09:20:22-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1922)1plain2022-08-26T09:20:22-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-02-08T14:02:01-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1T. Thomas Fortune, "The Elsmeres" (1905)1plain2024-02-08T14:02:01-05:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-05-16T15:45:30-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 1" (1927)1plain2023-05-16T15:45:30-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-03-10T08:40:25-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Carrie Williams Clifford, "Sorrow Songs" 1927)1plain2024-03-10T08:40:25-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-04-21T08:22:41-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Lois Augusta Cuglar, "Consecration" (1927)1plain2024-04-21T08:22:41-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-26T09:21:40-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)1plain2022-08-26T09:21:40-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12023-08-07T10:06:40-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Countee Cullen, "Sonnet to Her" (1927)1plain2023-08-07T10:06:40-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-05-12T12:08:52-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "The Little Peoples" (1919)1plain2024-05-12T12:08:52-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12022-08-26T09:22:33-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922 Version)1plain2022-08-26T09:22:33-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
12024-05-12T20:44:44-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1Claude McKay, "To the White Fiends" (1918)1plain2024-05-12T20:44:44-04:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1