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Sonnet

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The 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 January 2024, we have identified and tagged about 63 poems in the anthology as sonnets. There are likely more poems in the collection yet to be tagged. -AS 

This page has paths:

  1. Poetic Form in African American Poetry Amardeep Singh

Contents of this tag:

  1. T. Thomas Fortune, "Lincoln" (1902)
  2. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "A Sonnet in Memory of John Brown" (1922)
  3. William Stanley Braithwaite, "The Negro in American Literature" (1925)
  4. Joseph S. Cotter, Jr., "A Sonnet to the Negro Soldiers" (1918)
  5. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "A Sonnet: to the Mantled" (1917)
  6. Chapter 3a: Social Justice in Sonnet Form, 1910-1919
  7. Claude McKay, "Baptism" (1921)
  8. Countee Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel" (1925)
  9. Claude McKay, "If We Must Die" (1919)
  10. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "Sonnet"/Violets" (1922)
  11. Angelina Weld Grimke, "To the Dunbar High School (A Sonnet)" (1917)
  12. Countee Cullen, "Brown Boy to Brown Girl (Remembrance on a hill) (For Yolanda)" (1924)
  13. Carrie Williams Clifford, "The New Year" (1920)
  14. Claude McKay, "In Bondage" (1921)
  15. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "Sonnet" (1919)
  16. James D. Corrothers, "The Negro Singer" (1913)
  17. Arthur Tunnell, "On Segregation" (1914)
  18. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "Shakespeare" (1915)
  19. Claude McKay, "Africa" (1921)
  20. James D. Corrothers, "Paul Laurence Dunbar" (1906)
  21. Claude McKay, "America" (1921)
  22. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Lincoln" (1922)
  23. Claude McKay, "On the Road" (1922)
  24. Claude McKay, "Dawn in New York" (1922)
  25. Poems by Leslie Pinckney Hill in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  26. Claude McKay, "A Capitalist at Dinner" (1919)
  27. Claude McKay, "Harlem Dancer" (1917)
  28. Claude McKay, "The White City" (1921)
  29. Joseph S. Cotter, Jr. "Band of Gideon: and Other Poems" (Full text) (1918)
  30. Claude McKay, "Roman Holiday" (1919)
  31. Claude McKay, "On a Primitive Canoe" (1922)
  32. Claude McKay, "Enslaved" (1921)
  33. Countee Cullen, "From the Dark Tower" (1926)
  34. Joseph S. Cotter, Sr., "Shakespeare's Sonnet" (1923)
  35. James D. Corrothers, "Up! Sing the Song" (1913)
  36. Helene Johnson, "Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem" (1927)
  37. Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1919)
  38. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)
  39. Countee Cullen, "Oh, for a Little While Be Kind (For Ruth Marie)" (1925)
  40. Joseph S. Cotter, "The Prophet" (1920)
  41. Countee Cullen, "To My Friends" (1925)
  42. Lucian B. Watkins, "The Black Madonna And Her Babe" (1918)
  43. Claude McKay, "I Shall Return" (1922)
  44. Lewis Alexander, "The Dark Brother" (1927)
  45. Claude McKay, "Through Agony" (1921)
  46. Claude McKay, "Wild May" (1922)
  47. Georgia Douglas Johnson, "Sonnet to Those Who See But Darkly" (1922)
  48. Claude McKay, "To Winter" (1922)
  49. Carrie Williams Clifford, "To Phyllis Wheatley (First African Poetess)" (1922)
  50. Countee Cullen, "The Dance of Love (After reading René Maran's 'Batouala')" (1923)
  51. James D. Corrothers, "In a Southland Vale" (1904)
  52. Nellie R. Bright (Nellie Rathbone Bright), "To One Who Might Have Been My Friend" (1927)
  53. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Tercentenary of the Landing of Slaves at Jamestown 1619-1919" (1922)
  54. Claude McKay, "Outcast" (1922)
  55. Claude McKay, "Negro Dancers" (1922)
  56. Angelina W. Grimke (Angelina Weld Grimke), "Trees" (1928)
  57. Leslie Pinckney Hill, "Father Love" (1919)
  58. George Leonard Allen, "To a Negro Musician" (1927)
  59. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, "A Prayer" (1928)
  60. Charles Bertram Johnson, "Herbstgefuhl" (1905)
  61. T. Thomas Fortune, "Diamond in the Clay" (1905)
  62. Charles Bertram Johnson, "The Cup of Knowledge" (1905)
  63. Claude McKay, "Baptism" (1922)
  64. Countee Cullen, "A Thorn Forever In the Breast" (1927)
  65. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Frederick Douglass" (1917)
  66. Claude McKay, "The Little Peoples" (1919)
  67. Claude McKay, "Poetry" (1922)
  68. Claude McKay, "Invocation" (1917)
  69. Charles Bertram Johnson, "The Dreamer" (1905)
  70. James D. Corrothers, "To -------- (A Sonnet)" (1901)
  71. Claude McKay, "The Night Fire" (1922)
  72. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Mothers of America" (1922)
  73. T. Thomas Fortune, "The Elsmeres" (1906)
  74. Blanche Taylor Dickinson, "A Sonnet and a Rondeau" (1927)
  75. Countee Cullen, "Sonnet to Her" (1927)
  76. T. H. Malone, "Constancy" (1905)
  77. T. Thomas Fortune, "Edgar Allen Poe" (1905)
  78. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "The Bells of Notre Dame" (1901)
  79. James Edward McCall, "The New Negro" (1927)
  80. Charles Bertram Johnson, "To an Oak" (1906)
  81. Claude McKay, "To the White Fiends" (1918)
  82. T. Thomas Fortune, "Beyond the Veil" (1905)
  83. Claude McKay, "Russian Cathedral" (1925)
  84. Claude McKay, "La Paloma in London" (1922)
  85. T. Thomas Fortune, "The Elsmeres" (1905)
  86. Countee Cullen, "The Love Tree" (1927)
  87. Carrie Williams Clifford, "Sorrow Songs" 1927)
  88. Claude McKay, "Like a Strong Tree" (1925)
  89. Claude McKay, "Futility" (1922)
  90. Eloise A. Bibb, "Sonnet (To Dr. L.A. Martinet, editor of the New Orleans Crusader" (1895)
  91. The Gift by Carrie Williams Clifford
  92. Countee Cullen, "And When I Think" (1927)
  93. Poems by Claude McKay in "The Book of American Negro Poetry" (1922)
  94. Claude McKay, "White Houses" (1925)
  95. Claude McKay, "The Lynching" (1920)
  96. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "Chaucer" (1922)
  97. Carrie Williams Clifford (Carrie W. Clifford), "Appeal" (1928)
  98. Lois Augusta Cuglar, "Consecration" (1927)
  99. Claude McKay, "The Tired Worker" (1922)
  100. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "To One Untrue" (1906)
  101. Race-Hate by Carrie Williams Clifford
  102. Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 1" (1927)
  103. Carrie Williams Clifford (Carrie W. Clifford), "Warning" (1928)
  104. Claude McKay, "Thirst" (1921)
  105. Paul Laurence Dunbar, "The Path" (1896)
  106. George Reginald Margetson, "Mary Evans Wilson (A Tribute)" (1928)
  107. Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)
  108. Gwendolyn B. Bennett, "Sonnet 2" (1927)
  109. Benjamin Griffith Brawley, "First Sight" (1906)
  110. Claude McKay, "I Know My Soul" (1922)
  111. Lewis Alexander, "Africa" (1924)
  112. H. Cordelia Ray, "Sonnets" (1893)
  113. Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922 Version)
  114. Three Sonnets by Carrie Williams Clifford (1922)
  115. Claude McKay, "Birds of Prey" (1922)
  116. Thomas Millard Henry, "A Sonnet in Memory of Lucian B. Watkins" (1921)
  117. Claude McKay, "The Castaways" (1922)