Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry

the best way to read any anthology is to skip the prefaces and introductions, and scan through the table of contents looking for favorites, or for poets you've heard about and now have an opportunity to finally sample, or as an introduction to voices new to you for the unexpected poem, or poet, which may become one of your favorites in the future. if you're interested in exploring a specific type of poetry, say serbian, nature, or 17th century british, the anthology title will give you that information.here's an anthology of contemporary african, american poety, published by norton, a publisher specializing in anthologies of various catagories. william stanley braithwaite edited the first Norton Anthology of African American Literature, a compendium of work songs, essays, sermons, novel excerpts and poetry, updated, in 1996, by nellie mckay and henry louis gates jr., to include hip hop, rhythm and blues lyrics, and contemporary verse.rowell's edition of the Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American poetry is exclusively poetry, over 500 pages of poems by african americans, several of them appearing in print for the first time in the 90s and the early 21st century. despite what complaints any reader of poetry may have, rowell's edition of the norton anthology speaks well of the number of african american poets, more than eighty of them, with books in print. of course, however any anthology aims for completion through representation, many arrows miss the target, and some are not even included in the quiver, but of the ascent and the angle of the arrows that took to air, rowell has more often than not hit his target.in his introduction and preface, rowell highlights a peculiar historical context of black poetics for contemporary black poets, eschewing previous black anthologies and literary journals, creative writing programs in tradition black colleges and universities like e ethelbert miller's program at howard university, the non-academic poet, and, with the exceptions of gwendolyn brooks and melvin b. tolson, along with robert hayden, who rowell labels his precusors, poets publishing before the 1960s.poets writing in the 1920s, took their call to action from hughes' essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, calling for young black artists to freely explore racial and folk themes, a call to action sounded again in the 60s by the seminal voice of amiri baraka who went further in turning away from a still white mainstream poetic dictate.this is the ground on which rowell pitches his contemporary black poetics tent. describing the black arts movement of the 60s as within the `fetters of narrow political and social demands', he situates his new waves of black poets publishing after the 60s in the mainstream academy and journals, proclaiming total freedom for his new black poets, who, if they choose, can separate completely from the black arts movement of the 60s. this proclamation happens at the risks of severing the roots of the blues tradition of poets like tyehimba jess. jess' free form Leadbelly poems, included here by rowell, are in the direct line of baraka's Leadbelly and poems by sterling brown and the tradition of black arts chronicled by braithwaite and gates.rowell's precursors, poets writing during the 50s, represent what he describes as an `impulse toward Modernism'. from the three precursors rowell chooses a phrase from the poem, For a Young Artist, and the title of a book, Angle of Ascent, both by robert hayden, for his anthology title. hayden serves as spiritual father to the three waves of black poets publishing after the 60s, the first wave, following the black arts movement of the 60s and the black poets of the 60s not part of bam, include rita dove, poet and editor of Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry. according to rowell, the poets of his third wave, poets published since the 80s, for their black American poet influences need look no further back than the poets found in his first wave, the poets pretty much born in the late 40s and early 50s, who entered print in the 70s. these first wave black poets managed to avoid influences of the black arts movement, their influences closer to hayden and toomer than baraka and hughes. rowell wants to overlook amiri baraka, writing in the 50s as leroi jones, as one of the strongest voices in modernism, a pivotal voice in both movements, modernism and black arts.rowell would have served his editorship better had he not mentioned the black arts movement, just as he chose not to mention langston hughes as precursor, and let his new wave black poetry stand on his new demarcation site, instead of giving his third wave poets permission to leap-frog over the black arts movement. rowell leaves the impression that young artists from ivy league colleges someday may face the risk of coming up against the racial mountain and bam and feeling guilty for having rilke and charles olson as models, and as a result forced down a road they had not considered taking or, worse, giving up their artistic calling. true, the black arts movement as part of the spirit of black power and black pride sweeping the nation and the rest of the world were visible from high places and shouted at a loud volume, and seductive and popular for the moment, but to claim, as rowell does, they silenced some voices is whining. strong voices aren't squelched, they continue singing, however softly underground and in other places, if necessary in rooms of their own. granted, then as now, there was a lot of lousy poetry by anyone's standards, but the strong voices kept coming, and will keep coming, whether or not writing a black revolutionary movement poem, a sound observation whether from sterling brown or harold bloom.if you have read this far and have read rowell's preface and introduction, for a more complete picture of the black aesthetics of the 1960s, you must read amiri baraka's rebuttals to rowell's remarks, found in Poetry magazine and ishmael reed's Konch, both publications available online.

If you're a new poet starting out, this book should be one of the first publications on your bookshelf. Get it!

Always do your research on what you want. For this to be a newer anthology I found the price to be great! Awesome collection of African American authors/stories. I love books, and anthologies are a great way to introduce yourself to different authors and different perspectives. You may find your new favorite writer in one of these anthologies. I use this as a resource for an African American Lit. course that I facilitate.

This book is an anthology of selected black poems by a wide range of black poets. Rowell divides the book into two parts, precursors and Heirs of the Black Arts Movement, distributing the range of styles in the waves they entered the writing world.

Excellent book

Great book, definitely a keeper.

beautiful read...still reading it

Made a great gift!