Claude McKay's Early Poetry: A Digital CollectionMain MenuIntroduction: About this SiteAmardeep Singh, Lehigh UniversityConstab Ballads (1912) -- Digital EditionClaude McKay's "Constab Ballads"Songs of Jamaica (1912): Digital EditionBook of poetry by Claude McKay. Preface by Walter Jekyll.Early Uncollected Poetry (1911-1922)Uncollected Poems by Claude McKay published in Jamaican, British, and American magazinesWorkers Dreadnought PoetrySpring in New Hampshire (1920): Digital EditionHarlem Shadows (1922): Digital EditionHarlem Shadows Digital EditionSelected Poems of Claude McKay (1953)Approximating the Table of Contents of "Selected Poems of Claude McKay"Criticism and Contextual EssaysWorks CitedWorks Cited for "Claude McKay's Early Poetry (1912-1922)"TEI/XML Editions (in progress/coming soon)Links to TEI versions of these textsAmardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
The Daily Gleaner
12017-07-10T17:06:28+00:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1691Poem by Claude McKay. Published in Daily Gleaner December 16, 1911plain2017-07-10T17:06:28+00:00Amardeep Singhc185e79df2fca428277052b90841c4aba30044e1
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12017-07-10T17:08:58+00:00The Daily Gleaner1Poem by Claude McKay. Published in Daily Gleaner December 16, 1911plain2017-07-10T17:08:58+00:00
Year o' eighteen thirty-four, When the cullud folks be'n freed, In dis Island I appeared, Furnishin' a long-felt need. Jes' a tiny bit o' thing, Jes' a tiny bit o' sheet, But I'm in de forefront since, An' I never can be beat: Read by white man, read by nigger, Every day I'm growin' bigger.
T'rough all sort o' pestilence, T'rough de sweeping hurricane, T'rough de famine an' eart'quake, T'rough de sun an season rain, I am climbin' right along, O' me kinsmen far ahead, An I mean to keep de front Tell our Islan'-wul' go dead: Never fearin', climbin' gaily, Me Jamaica's leadin' daily.
I am free from petty strife, For de envious I don't care, An' I feel so high above, Dat I ha' no cause fe fear. Kinsmen dear have come and gone, I ha' gladly hailed dem all: -- Climbin' wid unenvious eyes, I have watched dem rise an' fall. An' continue, each day greener, Leadin' all -- The Daily Gleaner.
