SYLLABUS: THE POETRY OF LANGSTON HUGHES AND CLAUDE McKAY

Cary Nelson

ENGLISH 298--THE POETRY OF LANGSTON HUGHES AND CLAUDE McKAY

Wednesday, 3-4:50 pm, Room 107A

REQUIRED TEXTS (Illini Union Bookstore):

Claude McKay, SELECTED POEMS
Cary Nelson, ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN AMERICAN POETRY
Langston Hughes, COLLECTED POEMS
web site: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps

CLASS ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED

Each week you need to read the MAPS criticism--if any--about the poems assigned.

SEP 3 INTRODUCTION-- Hughes, "Ku Klux,"
McKay, "The Harlem Dancer"

SEP 10 McKAY's CAREER

"Introduction" to McKay, SELECTED POEMS
McKay, "The Heart of a Constab," "The Tropics in New York," "The Barrier," "America," ` "The Lynching," "Outcast," "If We Must Die," "The Negro's Tragedy," "Look Within"

SEP 17 HUGHES'S CAREER

Hughes, "Negro," "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "The Weary Blues," "The Cat and the Saxophone," "To the Dark Mercedes," "Justice," "Three Songs About Lynching," "Ballad of Roosevelt," "The Bitter River," "Dinner Guest: Me," "Late Corner"

SEP 24 WHITENESS AND AMBIGUITY AS RACIAL CATEGORIES

McKay, "The White City," "The Dominant White," "The Litle Peoples," "The White House," "Tiger," "To the White Fiends," "Invocation," "Mulatto"

Langston Hughes, "White Shadows," "Mulatto," "White Man" (CP: 194)

Anne Spencer,"White Things"

Aqua Lalula, "Lullaby"

Countee Cullen, "Near White," "Tableau"

OCT 1 CHRISTIANITY--McKAY, HUGHES, AND THE LEGACY

McKay, "Enslaved"

Hughes, "Christ in Alabama," "Goodbye Christ," "Fire."

Carolyn Rodgers, "how i got ovah," "and when the revolution came," "mamma's god"

Amiri Baraka, "When We'll Worship Jesus"

Lucille Clifton, "at the cemetery," "reply," "the message of crazy horse," "brothers"

OCT 8 McKay & HUGHES--ANTI-CAPITALISTS & REVOLUTIONARIES

McKay, "A Capitalist at Dinner," "To `Holy' Russia," "Song of the New Soldier and Worker," "Battle," "Birds of Prey"

Hughes, "Come to the Waldorf-Astoria," "Park Bench," "Ballad of Roosevelt," "Let America Be America Again," "Letter from Spain," from COLLECTED POEMS: "Wait" (174), "Revolution" (175), "One More S in the USA" (176), "Ballads of Lenin" (183), "Share-Croppers" (185), "Air Raid over Harlem" (185), "Good Morning Revolution" (162)

OCT 15 STERLING BROWN--THE OTHER MAJOR VOICE

"Scotty Has His Say," "Slim in Atlanta," "Slim iin Hell," "Sharecroppers," "Memphis Blues," "Southern Cop," "Choices," "Old Lem," "Rent Day Blues"

OCT 22 HUGHES--THE ILLUSTRATED POEM

"Scottsboro"
"The Negro Mother" (handout + COLL POEMS, 147-157)

OCT 29 HUGHES--THE LATE POLITICS

Hughes, "The Backlash Blues," "Bombings in Dixie,"
from COLLECTED POEMS: "Lumumba's Grave" (533), "We, Too" (538), "Northern Liberal" (541), "Final Call" (545), "Birmingham Sunday" and "Bombings in Dixie" (557), "Un-American Investigators" (560), "Black Panther" (555), "Flotsam" (562).

NOV 5 HUGHES--MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED (COLLECTED
POEMS, 387-429).

NOV 12 HUGHES--ASK YOUR MAMA (COLLECTED POEMS, 472-531)

NOV 19 BLACK ARTS, etc.: THE MOVEMENT McKAY INSPIRED

Welton Smith, "Malcolm"

Amiri Baraka, "SOS," "Black Art"

Etheridge Knight, "Haiku," "Hard Rock Returns to Prison," "The Idea of Ancestry," "A Poem for Myself," "For Malcolm, A Year After"

Henry Dumas, "Son of Msippi," "Kef 24," "Kef 16," "Fish," "Knees of a Natural Man," "Low Down Dog Blues," "Black Star Line"

DEC 3 HUGHES & McKAY--THE CONTEMPORARY LEGACY

Yusef Komunyakaa, "Work"

Thylias Moss, "Crytals"

Patricia Smith, "What It's Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't)," "Blond White Women," "Skinhead"

Michael Harper, "American History," Song: I Want a Witness," "We Assume," "Brother John," "Deathwatch," "Dear John, Dear Coltrane"

Audre Lorde, "Coal," "Sisters in Arms," "Outlines"

Jayne Cortez, "I Am New York City"

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

EVERY WEEK--by Monday or Tuesday--send an email to me and the class analyzing one or two of the poems assigned for Wednesday's class and commenting, if relevant, on the MAPS criticism.

FIRST PAPER--due October 10, 5 typed pages, 1-inch margins, double-spaced, a close reading of a Hughes or McKay poem that we have not yet discussed in class, or a close reading comparing 2 such poems. You may make reference to other poems in the books if you wish. You should not retype any of the poems in their entirety; we already have them. The paper should have an original title that identifies your approach or a major focus of your argument. Correct spelling and grammar before turning in the paper. Read your paper out loud as away of checking for style. A close reading should describe the main themes, central ideas, or aims of the poem. It should explain how the poem develops from beginning to end. And it should comment in detail on individual images, phrases, and lines in the poem. Consider how elements of the poem's form and structure contribute to its effect. Reflect on the poem's potential impact on a reader. Finally, how does the poem fit into the poet's career as a poet, based on what you've read in the texts. Is the poem similar to or different from the poet's other work?

FINAL PAPER--due December 12--25 typed pages, 1-inch margins, double-spaced. A detailed paper on either Hughes or McKay, or on a comparative subject. Empasizing an original argument and close readings of at least 4 poems. I am more interested in your analysis than in anything you can find out from reading criticism. If you wish your paper returned, you must give me a self-addressed, STAMPED envelope.