History has witnessed cases of oppression featuring different minority groups. When they lacked a channel to air their grievances, they turned to poets of resistance. These writers could capture the mood of the oppressed and send shivers down the spines of oppressors. Their words rallied the masses behind liberation struggles.
Langston Hughes is a famous social activist and columnist who hailed from Joplin in Missouri. He is famous for leading the Harlem Renaissance from New York City. He has a list of over 15 poetry collections to his name. Among the most famous poems is I Look at the World where he regards the world of the blacks as fenced and thus rallies them to rise up and build the world they envision.
Among the most famous female resistance poets is Maya Angelou. This lady from St. Louis in Missouri is also credited with authoring numerous books and being a memoirist. Because of her contribution and participation in social justice transformation, she has more than 50 honorary degrees. Caged Bird is on of her iconic verses that point at a cry for freedom among the oppressed. She uses the analogy of two birds, one that flies and another that is caged.
Denise Levertov uses her bullet pen to criticize the war in Vietnam. In her words, this is an injustice against masses with no gain or winner. She is known for using different artistic writing forms to pass her protest message. Among them are news casts, diary entries and conversations. They are formatted in form of a conversation between two individuals. In Making Peace she calls upon people to pause and reflect on peace and what it means.
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 and lived during the Harlem Renaissance. His ideology was largely communist though he claimed not to have been an official member of any such group. He was an accomplished author of poetry, fiction and non-fiction works. One of his most celebrated poems is IF We Must Die where he advocates for death but a noble death where one fights. He terms it as shameful to allow the enemy to celebrate your anguish.
Birmingham Alabama is the birth place of Margret Walker who having been born in 1915 went on to rise to prominence because of her participation in the African American Literary movement based in Chicago. For My People is a verse addressing comfortable slaves suffering under ungrateful masters. Her message is for them to rise and push for change in their situation.
If there is a clear and simplistic protest poet, it is Hirshfield Jane. The poet and essayist was a pioneer graduate from Princeton University where she was part of the first class that had female students. Among her famous works is Let Them Not Say, a verse warning evil doers that they are being watched and their acts are known to the public.
Though protest poetry was not meant to change the world directly, it awoke in people the consciousness of being oppressed. The oppressors also realized that the masses were watching. This was the fuel that oppressed people needed to instigate change.
Langston Hughes is a famous social activist and columnist who hailed from Joplin in Missouri. He is famous for leading the Harlem Renaissance from New York City. He has a list of over 15 poetry collections to his name. Among the most famous poems is I Look at the World where he regards the world of the blacks as fenced and thus rallies them to rise up and build the world they envision.
Among the most famous female resistance poets is Maya Angelou. This lady from St. Louis in Missouri is also credited with authoring numerous books and being a memoirist. Because of her contribution and participation in social justice transformation, she has more than 50 honorary degrees. Caged Bird is on of her iconic verses that point at a cry for freedom among the oppressed. She uses the analogy of two birds, one that flies and another that is caged.
Denise Levertov uses her bullet pen to criticize the war in Vietnam. In her words, this is an injustice against masses with no gain or winner. She is known for using different artistic writing forms to pass her protest message. Among them are news casts, diary entries and conversations. They are formatted in form of a conversation between two individuals. In Making Peace she calls upon people to pause and reflect on peace and what it means.
Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889 and lived during the Harlem Renaissance. His ideology was largely communist though he claimed not to have been an official member of any such group. He was an accomplished author of poetry, fiction and non-fiction works. One of his most celebrated poems is IF We Must Die where he advocates for death but a noble death where one fights. He terms it as shameful to allow the enemy to celebrate your anguish.
Birmingham Alabama is the birth place of Margret Walker who having been born in 1915 went on to rise to prominence because of her participation in the African American Literary movement based in Chicago. For My People is a verse addressing comfortable slaves suffering under ungrateful masters. Her message is for them to rise and push for change in their situation.
If there is a clear and simplistic protest poet, it is Hirshfield Jane. The poet and essayist was a pioneer graduate from Princeton University where she was part of the first class that had female students. Among her famous works is Let Them Not Say, a verse warning evil doers that they are being watched and their acts are known to the public.
Though protest poetry was not meant to change the world directly, it awoke in people the consciousness of being oppressed. The oppressors also realized that the masses were watching. This was the fuel that oppressed people needed to instigate change.
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