The Ecologies of African American Poetry Collections

Author: Lynes, Katherine R.¹

Source: Comparative American Studies, Volume 7, Number 2, June 2009 , pp. 193-207(15)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

Key:

- Free Content

- New Content

- Subscribed Content

- Free Trial Content

Abstract:

In this paper, I take as my subject both anthologies of African American poetry and what is loosely called ecopoetry. I am interested in the governing gestures editors make when they compile anthologies. I make a case for why it matters for ecocritics to read African American poetics as participating in ecopoetics and to include their voices in ecopoetic anthologies; in turn, I also make a case for how African American poetry anthologies could present poems working in the ecopoetic vein, in order to augment their offerings. Both are complementing gestures that would allow us to move toward effecting changes in our interactions with the nonhuman natural world; and I argue that anthologies can play a more complete role in shaping these interactions.

Keywords: AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY; ANTHOLOGY; COLLECTION; ECOCRITICISM; ECOPOETICS; ECOPOETRY; NATURE

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/147757008X282649

Affiliations: 1: Union College, Schenectady, NY, USA;, Email: katherine_lynes@yahoo.com

The full text electronic article is available for purchase. You will be able to download the full text electronic article after payment.

$39.00 plus tax Refund Policy