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Books by Lauri Scheyer

"A valuable study of the formal and thematic characteristics of slave songs, most of which were ... more "A valuable study of the formal and thematic characteristics of slave songs, most of which were collected and published in the latter half of the century. Scheyer explains how they have been marginalized in the disciplinary study of folklore, religion, and music while also making a strong case for reading them as poetry, as literary texts worthy of inclusion in the canon. In a series of thematically and topically arranged chapters, she demonstrates their influence on Paul Laurence Dunbar and on a wide array of later poets."--American Literary Scholarship

"The main contention of this study is that slave songs are part of the tradition of lyric poetry and as such continue to exert influence on American literature. Arguing for the inclusion of slave songs in the American and African American literary canon, Scheyer differentiates slave songs from spirituals, a term that mischaracterizes these works as being only concerned with salvation and redemption. Placing slavery at the center of the canon, this volume does not simply read slave songs as lyrical poems but, perhaps more important, as American poems."--American Literature

Classic and new work by poet and jazz writer A. B. Spellman A. B. Spellman is an acclaimed Ame... more Classic and new work by poet and jazz writer A. B. Spellman

A. B. Spellman is an acclaimed American poet, music critic, and arts administrator. He is widely recognized as a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, a cultural and literary movement that emphasized Black identity, pride, and artistic expression. Between the Night and Its Music brings together A. B. Spellman's early work with a collection of powerful new poems. Spellman's literary career took flight in 1965 with his debut poetry collection, The Beautiful Days, which introduced his distinctive voice blending elements of jazz, blues, and African oral traditions. In 1966, Four Lives in the Bebop Business established Spellman as a respected music critic and scholar. It was a groundbreaking work that chronicled the lives and struggles of four influential jazz musicians. Spellman held senior positions at the National Endowment for the Arts for thirty years with lasting impact on arts funding for inner cities and rural and tribal communities. In addition to poems from The Beautiful Days (1965) and Things I Must Have Known (2008), this book contains a trove of new and uncollected poems, confirming Spellman's continued centrality to contemporary American literature. This is an essential volume for readers already familiar with Spellman, and an excellent introduction for new readers. Lauri Scheyer's introduction situates Spellman's work within jazz writing, Black Arts, and American poetry broadly.

Modern Language Studies, 2005

What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America is the second book in a landmark two-vo... more What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America is the second book in a landmark two-volume anthology that explodes narrow definitions of African American poetry by examining experimental poems often excluded from previous scholarship. The first volume, Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone, covers the period from the end of World War II to the mid-1970s. In What I Say, editors Aldon Lynn Nielsen and Lauri Ramey have assembled a comprehensive and dynamic collection that brings this pivotal work up to the present day.

The elder poets in this collection, such as Nathaniel Mackey, C. S. Giscombe, Will Alexander, and Ron Allen, came of age during and were powerfully influenced by the Black Arts Movement, and What I Say grounds the collection in its black modernist roots. In tracing the fascinating and unexpected paths of experimentation these poets explored, however, Nielsen and Ramey reveal the tight delineations of African American poetry that omitted noncanonical forms. This invigorating panoply of work, when restored, brings into focus the creatively elastic frontiers and multifaceted expressions of contemporary black poetry.

Several of the poets discussed in What I Say forged relationships with members of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry movement and participated in the broader community of innovative poetry that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s and continues to exert a powerful influence today.

Each volume can stand on its own, and reading them in tandem will provide a clear vision of how innovative African American poetries have evolved across the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. What I Say is infinitely teachable, compelling, and rewarding. It will appeal to a broad readership of poets, poetics teachers, poetics scholars, students of African American literature in nonnarrative forms, Afro-futurism, and what lies between the modern and the contemporary in global and localized writing practices.

Published in May 2019 by Cambridge University Press, this volume is the only critical history of ... more Published in May 2019 by Cambridge University Press, this volume is the only critical history of African American poetry from its origins to the present. Starting with the transatlantic African slave trade, it traces African American poetry from slave songs to today’s award-winning poets. Covering a wide range of styles and forms, canonical figures like Phillis Wheatley and Paul Laurence Dunbar are brought side by side with lesser known poets deserving of greater attention. Calling for a revised and expanded canon, this book shows how some poems were suppressed while others were lauded. In particular, it shows that African American poetry has a history of avant-garde practice from its origins to today. The role of music, women, and art as political action are other central themes. In conceiving of a new canon, it shows the influential role of African American poetry in defining and reflecting the United States at all points in the nation’s history. It contains rare illustrations, poems, and commentary on literary criticism and theory. Written in clear and accessible prose, it will appeal to students at all levels, experts, and general readers.

This volume promises to be the definitive guide to Calvin C. Hernton’s unparalleled poetic career... more This volume promises to be the definitive guide to Calvin C. Hernton’s unparalleled poetic career, re-introducing readers to a major voice in American poetry. Hernton was a cofounder of the Umbra Poets Workshop; a participant in the Black Arts Movement, R. D. Laing’s Kingsley Hall, and the Antiuniversity of London; and a teacher at Oberlin College who counted amongst his friends bell hooks, Toni Morrison, and Odetta. As a pioneer in the field of Black Studies, Hernton developed a theoretical and practical pedagogy with lasting impact on generations of students. He may be best known as an anti-sexist sociologist, following in the footsteps of W.E.B. Du Bois, but Hernton viewed himself, above all, as a poet. This volume includes a generous selection of Hernton’s previously published poems, from classics like the often anthologized “The Distant Drum” to the visionary epic The Coming of Chronos to the House of Nightsong, reprinted in full for the first time since 1964, alongside uncollected and unpublished material from the Calvin C. Hernton papers at Ohio University, a new critical introduction, and detailed notes, chronology, and bibliography.

Modern language studies, Oct 1, 2005

Introduction R.V.Arana & L.Ramey Narrating the Africanist Presence in the Early Modern Survey... more Introduction R.V.Arana & L.Ramey Narrating the Africanist Presence in the Early Modern Survey of English Literature A.Kelly Sea Change: Historicizing the Scholarly Study of Black British Writing R.V.Arana The Politics of Teaching Black and British M.H.Lima The Evolution of Black London J.Bryan Identity and Belonging in Contemporary Black British Writing C.Weedon Transformations Within the Black British Novel K.G.Sesay From Angry Dogs to Urban Griots: Contemporary Black British Writers, and the Case of Ben Okri J.Chui Okpala The Black Man and the Dark Lady: The Imaginery African in Early Modern and Modern British Writers A.J.Sumers A Black Briton's View of Black British Literature and Scholarship T.Walters

Contents: The Heritage Series: an introduction, Lauri Ramey Essays: 'The time of the whirlwin... more Contents: The Heritage Series: an introduction, Lauri Ramey Essays: 'The time of the whirlwind and the fire': Dudley Randall, the Heritage series and the Broadside Press connection, Melba Joyce Boyd Whose images? Waring Cuney and the Harlem Renaissance idea of the poet's work, Lorenzo Thomas Bardic memory and witness in the poetry of Samuel Allen, Edward A. Scott Russell Atkins: 'Heretofore', Aldon Lynn Nielsen Clarence Major and Mark Twain abroad, Linda F. Selzer Spiritual witness in the poetry of Dolores Kendrick, Joanne V. Gabbin Audre Lord: the voice of multiple consciousness, Margaret Kissam Morris Ray Durem: take no prisoners, Lauri Ramey Owen Vincent Dodson: faith and sorrow sorrow and faith, Inga R. Ivory Calvin C. Hernton: portrait of a poet, Lauri Ramey Contributors of essays. Memoirs and Interviews: The Heritage series: a memoir (excerpts), Paul Breman Paul Bremen's Heritage series of Black poetry, Clarence Major Poetry and the Heritage series, Sonia Sanchez Reflections on the Heritage series, Dolores Kendrick Heritage and 'Black' poetry in the 1970s, Amon Saba Saakana Paul Breman and Black poetry, Samuel Allen Ebele Oseye as poet, Earl McKenzie The responsibility and power of art, Ebele Oseye/Ellease Southerland 'Bout me, 'bout you, 'bout us (excerpts), Ron Fair The comic vision of Robert Hayden: a brief remembrance, Fred M. Fetrow Memories of my father, Ray Durem, Vida Boyd Durem W.E.B. Du Bois and Shirley Graham Du Bois in the Netherlands, 1958, Marc Breman. Statements on Poetry and Poetics: Statement, Ray Durem Statement, Calvin C. Hernton Statement, Audre Lorde Statement, Conrad Kent Rivers Statement, James W. Thompson Introduction: The Wright Poems by Conrad Kent Rivers, Ron Fair On Negritude, Lloyd Addison First editorial as editor of The New African (excerpt), Mukhtarr Mustapha. Poems: This because, A countless accounting, Lloyd Addison There are no tears, The lingering doubt, Samuel Allen To be whole again, Nkemka Asika (Frank John) At night keep still, Ventilating day at the mall down by the lake, Threnodic phantasies for example, Russell Atkins Variations for di prima, Harold Carrington Lil and Joe, Long gone, My prayer, Nineteen-twenty-nine, Picture, Carry me back, Waring Cuney About Maurice, To Maurice, A dun, Pedagogy, Blues, blues, Married woman, Compensation, Caution, Pretty Ann, A decoration for the president, Ray Durem Pausing, Ron Fair The red crab gang 3, The red crab gang 15, Ohio listening, Calvin C. Hernton Keep on, Frank John (Nkemka Asika) The daily grind, Fenton Johnson Intermezzo, My mother listens to Cavalleria Rusticana, The cleaning woman, Hattie Elder, Sisters before the rain (for Mary Frances Dagostino), Dolores Kendrick Martha, Audre Lorde My corner, Patience, Night driving and daydreaming, Wednesday or Saturday, Three, Clarence Major The job, Willard Moore Statement, Ants, Violet crows, 5/6/4/3/4, Mukhtarr Mustapha Meru, Night in Nigeria, Process, One of these mornings, Ebele Oseye/Ellease Southerland Black all day, Raymond Patterson The profile on the pillow, Dudley Randall Night letter from Paris, Conrad Kent Rivers An image of you, Amon Saba Saakana. Bibliography of Heritage series poets The Heritage Press archives Index.

Methuen Drama eBooks, 2022

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2004

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY POETICS Series Editors Charles Bernstein Hank Lazer Series Advisory Board... more MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY POETICS Series Editors Charles Bernstein Hank Lazer Series Advisory Board Maria Damon Rachel Blau DuPlessis Alan Golding Susan Howe Nathaniel Mackey Jerome McGann Harryette Mullen Aldon Nielsen Marjorie Perloff Joan Retallack Ron Silliman Lorenzo Thomas Jerry Ward You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under US Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to ...

Wesleyan University Press, 2023

This volume promises to be the definitive guide to Calvin C. Hernton's unparalleled poetic career... more This volume promises to be the definitive guide to Calvin C. Hernton's unparalleled poetic career, re-introducing readers to a major voice in American poetry. Hernton was a cofounder of the Umbra Poets Workshop; a participant in the Black Arts Movement, R. D. Laing's Kingsley Hall, and the Antiuniversity of London; and a teacher at Oberlin College who counted amongst his friends bell hooks, Toni Morrison, and Odetta. As a pioneer in the field of Black Studies, Hernton developed a theoretical and practical pedagogy with lasting impact on generations of students. He may be best known as an anti-sexist sociologist, following in the footsteps of W.E.B. Du Bois, but Hernton viewed himself, above all, as a poet. This volume includes a generous selection of Hernton's previously published poems, from classics like the often anthologized "The Distant Drum" to the visionary epic The Coming of Chronos to the House of Nightsong, reprinted in full for the first time since 1964, alongside uncollected and unpublished material from the Calvin C. Hernton papers at Ohio University, a new critical introduction, and detailed notes, chronology, and bibliography.

Wesleyan University Press, 2023

Forthcoming volume of work by Umbra Workshop member, poet, critic, scholar, novelist and essay wr... more Forthcoming volume of work by Umbra Workshop member, poet, critic, scholar, novelist and essay writer Calvin Coolidge Hernton, co-edited with Lauri Scheyer, and with a foreword by Ishmael Reed.

Theatres of War: Contemporary Perspectives, 2021

Why do so many writers and audiences turn to theatre to resolve overwhelming topics of pain and... more Why do so many writers and audiences turn to theatre to resolve overwhelming topics of pain and suffering? This collection of essays from international scholars reconsiders how theatre has played a crucial part in encompassing and preserving significant human experiences.

Plays about global issues, including terrorism and war, are increasing in attention from playwrights, scholars, critics and audiences. In this contemporary collection, a gathering of diverse contributors explain theatre's special ability to generate dialogue and promote healing when dealing with human tragedy.

This collection discusses over 30 international plays and case studies from different time periods, all set in a backdrop of war. The four sections document British and American perspectives on theatres of war, global perspectives on theatres of war, perspectives on Black Watch and, finally, perspectives on The Great Game: Afghanistan. Through this, a range of international scholars from different disciplines imaginatively rethink theatre's unique ability to mediate the impacts and experiences of war.

Featuring contributions from a variety of perspectives, this book provides a wealth of revealing insights into why authors and audiences have always turned to the unique medium of theatre to make sense of war.

A History of African American Poetry, 2019

African American poetry is as old as America itself, yet this touchstone of American identity is ... more African American poetry is as old as America itself, yet this touchstone of American identity is often overlooked. In this critical history of African American poetry, from its origins in the transatlantic slave trade, to present day hip-hop, Lauri Ramey traces African American poetry from slave songs to today's award-winning poets. Covering a wide range of styles and forms, canonical figures like Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) and Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) are brought side by side with lesser known poets who explored diverse paths of bold originality. Calling for a revised and expanded canon, Ramey shows how some poems were suppressed while others were lauded, while also examining the role of music, women, innovation, and art as political action in African American poetry. Conceiving of a new canon reveals the influential role of African American poetry in defining and reflecting the United States at all points in the nation's history.

Classic and new work by poet and jazz writer A. B. Spellman A. B. Spellman is an acclaimed Ame... more Classic and new work by poet and jazz writer A. B. Spellman

Modern Language Studies, 2005

Modern language studies, Oct 1, 2005

Methuen Drama eBooks, 2022

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2004

Wesleyan University Press, 2023

Theatres of War: Contemporary Perspectives, 2021

A History of African American Poetry, 2019

ANQ, 2024

The African American avant-garde poet, theorist, and musician Russell Atkins (1926-2024) began de... more The African American avant-garde poet, theorist, and musician Russell Atkins (1926-2024) began deploying his original theory of Psychovisualism as early as the 1950s. In addition to his theoretical explorations, which also included a theory of deconstruction that predated Jacques Derrida, Atkins was an intrepid experimentalist with literary forms. One of his most original forms was what he termed Poetry-Drama, a hybrid genre that used poetic language and operations to create theatrical effects. He is often seen as one of the major early influences on African American performative poetics in such figures as Tracie Morris, Mendi Obadike, and Duriel Estelle Harris. Atkins employs the principles of Psychovisualism in his most famous Poetry-Drama, The Corpse (1963). This theory and its usefulness can be seen at play in the scenographic design to imbue lighting and costuming with musicality, and to imbue music with visuality. The impact of this experimental approach is to create a dynamic, multi-sensory, and synesthetic effect sonically, visually, and conceptually. His innovative scenography represents a milestone ahead of its time in the postmodern deconstruction of sound and sight to challenge traditional scenographic design theories. As such, Atkins is also revealed to form a bridge from modernism to postmodernism in the cross-media artistic and theoretical developments which have increasingly dominated twenty-first century thinking and productions.
Key Words: Russell Atkins; Psychovisualism; poetry and drama; African American literature; scenography

Article is co-authored with Xiuxia Chen, Hunan Normal University (China)

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2002

Abstract Typically, spirituals have been viewed as religious folksongs, whose literary complexity... more Abstract Typically, spirituals have been viewed as religious folksongs, whose literary complexity and theological importance have been appreciated insufficiently, especially as these relate to one another. Spirituals are not generally categorized as lyric poetry in spite of the fact that poetry has historically been used for theological purposes. Their cultural and artistic worth is appreciated most fully by demonstrating the close integration of their literary and theological significance. By using the tools of cognitive science, cultural studies, ...

Women: A Cultural Review, 2009

This article discusses the work of two of Britain&#x27;s leading poets and performers—SuA... more This article discusses the work of two of Britain&#x27;s leading poets and performers—SuAndi and Patience Agbabi. Although their practices contain many similar features, critics rarely discuss these poets comparatively. The work here seeks to redress this situation in order to expand the boundaries of the delimiting categories applied by some audiences and critics. In an era in which there still can be distinct and disconnected audiences for &#x27;literary poetry&#x27;and &#x27;live art&#x27;, the work of Agbabi and SuAndi has crossed formal and cultural ...

Methuen Drama eBooks, 2022

The mysterious and compelling lyrics created by enslaved African Americans are an abiding and uni... more The mysterious and compelling lyrics created by enslaved African Americans are an abiding and unique contribution to the national and global songbook, and central to the body of national and world literature that uses poems as instruments of protest and political action. Transporting the community&#39;s emotions and information, the spirituals were performed by the ensemble in all social contexts during times of relaxation, worship, and labor. Several dominant literary operations are also identifiable in many of the spirituals. The spirituals serve as an omnipresent source of allusions in African American and world literature. The spirituals provide early and indisputable proof of the existence of a self-referring African American literary tradition, and the intent of their creators to insert African American voices into the canon. Spirituals as lyric poetry record the enslaved poets&#39; ability to overcome adversity and illuminate the strength of pre-Emancipation society in achieving unprecedented cultural production under circumstances of unimaginable hardship.

Slightly more than one hundred years ago, it was arguable that there was such a ﬁeld as literary ... more Slightly more than one hundred years ago, it was arguable that there was such a ﬁeld as literary study. Language was a proper ﬁeld of study, but some late nineteenth-century ﬁgures including James Russell Lowell, Thomas H. Hunt and Calvin Thomas began to argue that if philology were to be made practical, it could be applied usefully to literature. The most frequent rationales for the academic study of literature were that poems, novels, essays and plays often showed the greatest skill in the use of language; their mastery was a valuable ...

A History of African American Poetry

A History of African American Poetry, 2019

According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “The birth of the AfroAmerican literary tradition occurred i... more According to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “The birth of the AfroAmerican literary tradition occurred in 1773, when Phillis Wheatley published a book of poetry.”1 It is widely accepted that the African American poetry tradition starts with Wheatley (c. 1753–84). Kidnapped from her birthplace in Gambia, West Africa, and sold into slavery as a child of only six or seven, Wheatley is an unusual case of a “slave” whose education, companionship, and prestige as a literary prodigy were of paramount importance to the Wheatley family who “purchased” her. Wheatley’s volume Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in London, is regarded as the first poetry collection to be published by an African American. Many anthologies and books on the history of African American poetry start with the poems of Wheatley, who was manumitted by her owner, John Wheatley, in the same year that her only poetry collection was published.2 During her sadly brief lifetime, Wheatley was famous both nationally and internationally for her extraordinary

The Yeats Journal of Korea, Aug 31, 2016

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2008

Slave songs were the slaves’ traveling shoes. This traveling across conceptual and material bound... more Slave songs were the slaves’ traveling shoes. This traveling across conceptual and material boundaries was often managed through the direct evocation of biblical narratives, allusions, and typology, through the use of ideas that reflected both African and Western Christian philosophical and theological traditions, and through processes of conceptual integration. By these means, the slave poets were able to cross a variety of borders as a transformative and liberating response to the linguistic, physical, religious, intellectual, and cultural constraints of their lives. Slave songs were a metaphorical freedom train. They became a conceptual space where the slaves were able to build a platform of poetic liberation in response to their radically constrained circumstances by means of the Bible, creative metaphors, and a new combination of African and Western Christian views of mind and spirit.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 21, 2019

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Jun 1, 2002

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2009

What does it mean to be an avant-garde poet if one is Black and British today? Are there differen... more What does it mean to be an avant-garde poet if one is Black and British today? Are there different definitions for avant-gardism in this context than for the historical avant-garde movements of the twentieth century? Patience Agbabi and Anthony Joseph are two younger Black British poets whose poetry and poetics differ dramatically, yet both often are characterized as “avant-garde.” Citing her favorite poem, Agbabi names Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” a treasured icon that employs tidy structure to bury thorny irony under populist appeal. Agbabi mentions canonical figures such as Chaucer, Wordsworth, and Browning among her important literary models, and frequently writes rhymed metrical verse, notably sonnets and sestinas. In contrast, Joseph lists Kamau Brathwaite, Amiri Barak a, Ted Joans, Bob Kaufman, the Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener, Henry Dumas, and Wilson Harris among his main influences. These Black authors—highly respected though far less likely to appear on college syllabi than Agbabi’s exemplars—explode poetic conventions to convey the difficulties of linguistically encapsulating their diasporic experiences, ideas, and histories.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 21, 2019

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Apr 14, 2014

Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks, 2008

Since the advent of Romanticism in the early nineteenth century, the fine line between “primitive... more Since the advent of Romanticism in the early nineteenth century, the fine line between “primitive” and “literary” poetry has become increasingly blurred. William Wordsworth’s “1800 Preface to Lyrical Ballads” is probably the most frequently cited touchstone for modern conceptions of the lyric poem. In describing the goal of his revolutionary collection, Wordsworth felt it necessary to explain in the “Preface”: “It was published as an experiment, which I hoped might be of some use to ascertain how far, by fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men in a state of vivid sensation, that sort of pleasure and that quantity of pleasure may be imparted, which a poet may rationally endeavor to impart.”1 “The real language of men” is a phrase whose implications have been argued for more than two hundred years. At the very least, lyric poetry is now widely accepted as conveying the voices of particular individuals, speaking in their own dictions (or dramatizing those of characters), addressing their own communities, and selecting from a wide range of “acceptable” forms or prosodic features employed either conventionally or innovatively. Since the time of Wordsworth, readers have tended to expect poetry to preserve the vivid animation of speech-in-conversation versus elevated diction, Latinate, and archaic phrases and to represent a personal utterance rather than an expression of the state or praise to a patron or nation.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 21, 2019

Language Literacy: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching

Lyric poetry has historically referred to a genre that we think of as brief, musical, and persona... more Lyric poetry has historically referred to a genre that we think of as brief, musical, and personal as well as subjective. This article addresses the role of lyric poetry in the modern world, and how critical analysis enables us to better appreciate the potential impact of poetry today. Specifically, we will offer brief contrastive assessments of two landmark exemplars of American poets, Walt Whitman and Audre Lorde. These two figures demonstrate some of the varied ways of the American poetry tradition. We compare Walt Whitman, a canonical white male poet from the 19th century, with an equally important 20th century African American woman poet, Audre Lorde. These American poets differ in historical periods, sex, race, and other factors, yet both uphold the conventional functions of lyric poetry and prove its continuing relevance to a global readership. The results show that as the reflection of human life, poetry could represent honesty, realism, democracy and even power.

A History of African American Poetry, 2019