Caribbean poetry

Caribbean poetry is vast and rapidly evolving field of poetry written by people from the Caribbean region and the diaspora.

Caribbean poetry generally refers to a myriad of poetic forms, spanning epic, lyrical verse, prose poems, dramatic poetry and oral poetry, composed in Caribbean territories regardless of language. It is most often, however, written in English, Spanish, Spanglish, French, Hindustani, Dutch, or any number of creoles. Poetry in English from the former British West Indies has been referred to as Anglo-Caribbean poetry or West Indian poetry.

Since the mid-1970s, Caribbean poetry has gained increasing visibility with the publication in Britain and North America of several anthologies.[1] Over the decades the canon has shifted and expanded, drawing both on oral and literary traditions and including more women poets and politically charged works.[2][3][4] Caribbean writers, performance poets, newspaper poets, singer-songwriters have created a popular art form, a poetry heard by audiences all over the world.[5] Caribbean oral poetry shares the vigour of the written tradition.[5]

Among the most prominent Caribbean poets whose works are widely studied (and translated into other languages) are: Derek Walcott (who won the 1992 Nobel Prize for Literature),[6][7] Kamau Brathwaite,[8] Edouard Glissant,[9] Giannina Braschi,[10][11] Lorna Goodinson,[12]Aimé Fernand Césaire,[13] Linton Kwesi Johnson,[14][15] Kwame Dawes,[16] and Claudia Rankine.[17][18]

Common themes include: exile and return to the motherland;[19] the relationship of language to nation;[20] colonialism and postcolonialism; self-determination and liberty;[21] racial identity.[22][23]

Caribbean epic poetry

Derek Walcott's Omeros (1990) is one of the most renown epic poems of the 20th century and of the Caribbean.[24] The work is divided into seven books containing sixty-four chapters. Most of the poem is composed in a three-line form that is reminiscent of the terza rima form that Dante used for The Divine Comedy. The work, referencing Homer and other characters from the Iliad, refers to Greek, Roman, and American slavery.[25] The narrative arch of the epic takes place on the island of St. Lucia, where Walcott was born and raised, but includes imaginings of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as travels to modern day Lisbon, London, Dublin, Toronto.[26][27]

Giannina Braschi's Empire of Dreams (1988) is a postmodern Caribbean epic composed of six books of poetry that blend elements of eclogues, epigrams, lyrics, prose poem, and manifesto.[28] Braschi's United States of Banana (2011) is a geopolitical tragic-comedy about the fall of the American empire, the liberation of Puerto Rico, and the unification of the Caribbean isles.[29][30] Blending elements of poetry, lyrical essay, and dramatic dialogues, this postmodern epic tackles the subjects of global debt, labor abuse, and environmental crises on the rise.[31]

Anthony Kellman created the Caribbean poetic form Tuk Verse, which incorporates melodic and rhythmic elements of Barbadian indigenous folk music called Tuk. His 2008 book Limestone: An Epic Poem of Barbados is the first published epic poem of Barbados.[32][33]

Caribbean poets by country

Grouped by territory of birth or upbringing.

Anguilla

Barbados

Cuba

Dominican Republic

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

Martinique

Montserrat

Puerto Rico

St Lucia

St Martin

The Bahamas

Trinidad & Tobago

Further reading
  • Arnold, James. A History of Literature in the Caribbean v. I and II. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. (2001)
  • Breiner, Laurence A. An Introduction to West Indian Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  • Brown, Lloyd. West Indian Poetry. Boston: Twayne, 1978.
  • Bryan, Beverley. Teaching Caribbean Poetry. London: Routledge, 2014.
  • Jenkins, Lee Margaret. The Language of Caribbean Poetry. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004.
  • Müller, Timo (2016). "Forms of Exile: Experimental Self-Positioning in Postcolonial Caribbean Poetry". Atlantic Studies. 13 (4): 457–471. doi:10.1080/14788810.2016.1220790. S2CID 152181840.
  • Perisic, Alexandra. Precarious Crossings: Immigration, Neoliberalism, and the Atlantic. The Ohio State University Press.(2019) ISBN 9780814214107

Selected anthologies
  • James Berry, Bluefoot Traveller, London: Limestone Publications, 1976.
  • Stewart Brown, Caribbean Poetry Now, 1984.
  • Paula Burnett, The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse in English, 1986.
  • Stewart Brown, Mervyn Morris, Gordon Rohlehr (eds), Voiceprint: An Anthology of Oral and Related Poetry from the Caribbean, 1989.
  • E. A. Markham, Hinterland: Caribbean Poetry from the West Indies and Britain, Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1989.
  • Stewart Brown and Ian McDonald (eds), The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry, 1992.
  • Anthony Kellman (ed.), Crossing Water: Contemporary Poetry from the English-Speaking Caribbean, NY: Greenfield Review Press, 1992.
  • Stewart Brown, Mark McWatt (eds), The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse, 2005.
  • Lasana M. Sekou (ed.), Where I See The Sun – Contemporary Poetry in St. Martin, 2013.
  • Lasana M. Sekou (ed.), Where I See The Sun – Contemporary Poetry in Anguilla. St. Martin: House of Nehesi Publishers, 2015.[34]
  • Lasana M. Sekou (ed.), Where I See the Sun – Contemporary Poetry in The Virgin Islands (Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke). St. Martin: House of Nehesi Publishers, 2016.[35]

See also

References
  1. Edward Baugh, "A History of Poetry", in Albert James Arnold, Julio Rodríguez-Luis, J. Michael Dash (eds), A History of Literature in the Caribbean, Vol 2: English- and Dutch-speaking countries, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994, pp. 227-282.
  2. Emilio Jorge Rodríguez, "Oral Tradition and New Literary Canon in Caribbean Poetry", in Albert James Arnold, Julio Rodríguez-Luis, J. Michael Dash (eds), A History of Literature in the Caribbean, Volume 3: Cross-Cultural Studies, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1994, pp. 177-185.
  3. Arturo Cattaneo, "Caribbean Verse: History of Literature As History in Literature".
  4. Christian Andrew Campbell, Romancing "the Folk": Rereading the Nation in Caribbean Poetics, Duke University dissertation, 2007.
  5. The Penguin book of Caribbean verse in English. Burnett, Paula, 1942-. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. 1986. ISBN 0-14-058511-7. OCLC 13857617.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Poets, Academy of American. "Poems by Derek Walcott". poets.org. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  7. Foundation, Poetry (2020-09-06). "Derek Walcott". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  8. Foundation, Poetry (2020-09-06). "Kamau Brathwaite". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  9. Britton, Celia (2011-02-13). "Edouard Glissant". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  10. "Giannina Braschi". PEN America. 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  11. "Giannina Braschi: 2012 National Book Festival". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  12. Foundation, Poetry (2020-09-06). "Lorna Goodison". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  13. Foundation, Poetry (2020-09-06). "Aimé Fernand Césaire". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  14. Maya Jaggi, "Profile: Linton Kwesi Johnson - Poet on the front line", The Guardian, 4 May 2002.
  15. "Linton Kwesi Johnson - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  16. Foundation, Poetry (2020-09-06). "Kwame Dawes". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  17. "Claudia Rankine | Biography, Poetry, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  18. Muhammad, Ismail (2020-09-04). "Claudia Rankine's Quest for Racial Dialogue". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  19. D&#39, Theo; haen. "Exile, Caribbean Literature, and the World Republic of Letters". Perspectives on the 'Other America': Comparative Approaches to Caribbean and Latin American Culture.
  20. "Strangers at Home: Opaque Citizenships in Contemporary Caribbean Literature - ProQuest". search.proquest.com. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  21. "CFPs – The Caribbean Commons". Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  22. "caribbean literature themes - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  23. Burge, Peggy. "LibGuides: Caribbean Writer Series: Caribbean Literature". research.pugetsound.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  24. Hamner, Robert D. (1997). Epic of the dispossessed : Derek Walcott's Omeros. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1124-0. OCLC 36663076.
  25. Taplin, Oliver (1991). Walcott, Derek (ed.). "Derek Walcott's "Omeros" and Derek Walcott's Homer". Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics. 1 (2): 213–226. ISSN 0095-5809. JSTOR 20163475.
  26. Morrison, James V. (1999). "Homer Travels to the Caribbean: Teaching Walcott's "Omeros"". The Classical World. 93 (1): 83–99. doi:10.2307/4352373. ISSN 0009-8418. JSTOR 4352373.
  27. Baral, Raj Kumar; Shrestha, Heena (2020-01-01). Nyambi, Oliver (ed.). "What is behind Myth and History in Derek Walcott's Omeros?". Cogent Arts & Humanities. 7 (1): 1776945. doi:10.1080/23311983.2020.1776945.
  28. Aldama, Frederick Luis (2020). Poets, Philosophers, Lovers : On the Writings of Giannina Braschi. Stavans, Ilan and O'Dwyer, Tess. Pittsburgh, Pa.: U Pittsburgh. ISBN 978-0-8229-4618-2. OCLC 1143649021.
  29. Cruz-Malavé, Arnaldo Manuel (2014). ""Under the Skirt of Liberty": Giannina Braschi Rewrites Empire". American Quarterly. 66 (3): 801–818. doi:10.1353/aq.2014.0042. ISSN 1080-6490. S2CID 144702640.
  30. Riofrio, John (2020-03-01). "Falling for debt: Giannina Braschi, the Latinx avant-garde, and financial terrorism in the United States of Banana". Latino Studies. 18 (1): 66–81. doi:10.1057/s41276-019-00239-2. ISSN 1476-3443.
  31. Perisic, Alexandra (2019). Precarious crossings : immigration, neoliberalism, and the Atlantic. Columbus. ISBN 978-0-8142-1410-7. OCLC 1096294244.
  32. "Anthony Kellman" Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine, Authors, Peepal Tree Press.
  33. "Kellman, Anthony | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  34. "Welcome to House of Nehesi Publishers".
  35. http://www.bviplatinum.com/news.php?articleId=1472520053
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