Fierce Hatred of Injustice: Claude McKay's Jamaican Poetry of Rebellion
Claude McKay remains one of the most influential intellectuals of the African Diaspora. Best remembered for his extraordinary poetry, his achievement in verse has been widely analyzed and praised. Yet in the welter of discussion about McKay, little has been said about his early writing in Jamaican. Two collections from the period, Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads, are more known about than known, and his poems for the Jamaican press, most of which have never been anthologized, are rarely...
Search in google:
Claude McKay remains one of the most influential intellectuals of the African Diaspora. Best remembered for his extraordinary poetry, his achievement in verse has been widely analyzed and praised. Yet in the welter of discussion about McKay, little has been said about his early writing in Jamaican. Two collections from the period, Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads, are more known about than known, and his poems for the Jamaican press, most of which have never been anthologized, are rarely studied. In A Fierce Hatred of Injustice, Winston James elegantly redresses this omission. Through a subtle and detailed consideration of McKay's formative years on the island, James reviews the themes and politics of poetry which McKay began writing at the age of ten. Above all he focuses on the poet's pioneering use of Jamaican creole revealing the way in which this laid a foundation for subsequent work by writers such as Louise Bennett, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Michael Smith. The volume concludes with a comprehensive anthology of the early poems together with a comic sketch about Jamaican peasant life by McKay and an autobiographical essay on his experiences in the Kingston police force.
AcknowledgementsProloguePt. IBeginnings1A Jamaican Childhood and Youth, 1889 to 19123Pt. IIAn Analysis of McKay's Jamaican Poetry2Songs of Lament, Songs of Protest: An Introduction553The World of the Struggling Peasant594Constab Blues: Black Consciousness and Black Solidarity685Jamaican Nationalism and its Limits916Emergent Feminist Sympathies1007On Cruelty1148Religion and Christianity1249Thoughts on Africa and Intimations of Negritude12810The Weapon of Lyric Poetry13311Peasants' Ways o' Thinkin': What is to be Done?137Epilogue: The Politics of Poetic Form and Content within the Colonial Context139AppWhen Was McKay Born? A Controversy, a Document and a Resolution152Pt. IIIA Selection of McKay's Jamaican WritingThe Work of a Gifted Jamaican: An Interview with Claude McKay165From Songs of Jamaica169Quashie to Buccra169Whe' Fe Do?170King Banana172Hard Times173Cudjoe Fresh from de Lecture173Old England175A Midnight Woman to the Bobby176Killin' Nanny177My Native Land, My Home178Two-an'-Six179Strokes of the Tamarind Switch183My Pretty Dan184A Country Girl185My Mountain Home187From Constab Ballads189Flat-Foot Drill189De Dog-Driver's Frien'190Papine Corner191Cotch Donkey193A Recruit on the Corpy194Pay-Day195The Apple-Woman's Complaint198The Heart of a Constab199Fe Me Sal200The Bobby to the Sneering Lady202A Labourer's Life Give Me203Sukee River204From the Gleaner and the Jamaica Times207Agnes o' de Village Lane207George William Gordon to the Oppressed Natives208Passive Resistance209Christmas in de Air210Peasants' Ways o' Thinkin'211Bestman's Toast at a Rustic Wedding Feast215From Gingertown217When I Pounded the Pavement217Glossary229List of Abbreviations231Notes233
