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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 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 

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