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