All Blues: a Study of African-American Resistance Poetry. Anthony Jerome Bolden Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1998 All Blues: A Study of African-American Resistance Poetry. Anthony Jerome Bolden Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Bolden, Anthony Jerome, "All Blues: A Study of African-American Resistance Poetry." (1998). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6720. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6720 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALL BLUES: A STUDY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN RESISTANCE POETRY A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Anthony J . Bolden B .A., Dillard University, 1982 M.A., The University of Iowa, 1985 August 1998 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9902622 Copyright 1998 by Bolden, Anthony Jerome All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9902622 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. AH rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. © Copyright 1998 Anthony Jerome Bolden All rights reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is. in actuality, the fruition of a seed that my father planted in mv mind years ago. After my enlistment in the Army. I attempted tc establish a relationship wich him (my parents were divorced when I was a young boy). His daily lectures on the history of modern jazz became more than a supplement to my freshman classes. They were blues-tinged fragments of information that sparked my fascination with African-American culture and helped me to discover my identity, so to my father I say, thank you. My mother displayed her love, strength, and courage by refusing to give up on me. In her most desperate moments., she would often tell me, "Boy, you better straighten up. You're gonna need that education one day. You're gonna need a bachelor’s degree; you'll probably need a master's degree: in fact, by the time you grow up you'll probably need a Ph.D.!" Needless to say, she was quite prophetic. I would also like to thank my late aunt, Mary Brown, who helped me to change the direction of my life when I was a youth. I will never forget the aroma of her buttered waffles and pancakes on Sunday mornings and the tone of disapproval in her voice when she admonished me for failing in school. iii with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. To my uncles.. Don Bolden, the late Jimmy Bolden, and the late Sanford Brown. I want to say. thank you for teaching me how to be a man. To my wife. Troye, and my son. Amiri, thank you for providing the inspiration and patience to complete this degree. To the members of my committee, James Olney, John Lowe, Joyce Jackson, and Pat McGee, your insights and criticism have been invaluable. To the members of Congo Square Writers Union, this dissertation is a testimony to value of community arts organizations. To jazz radio host Bill Little, to librarian Venola Jones, thank you for helping me locate important materials. To ail of you X want to extend my sincerest gratitude! iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... .................................... H i ABSTRACT .............................................. vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION: ALL BLUES ./ NEW ORLEANS STYLE ........................ 1 CHAPTER 2. TROUBLE IN MIND: THE STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY IN EARLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN CRITICISM ................................ 13 CHAPTER 3. THE FREEDOM SUITE: FORM AND POLITICS IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN POETRY .............. 46 CHAPTER 4. GIMME A PIGFOOT: EARLY BLUES POETICS: RIFFING IN STERLING BROWN'S SOUTHERN ROAD ...................................... 147 CHAPTER 5. EPISTROPHY: OR, THE PERFORMANCE OF CULTURAL (RE)MEMORY IN LANGSTON HUGHES’S MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED ............. 198 CHAPTER 6. BLUE NILE: OR, TAKING THE BLUES BACK HOME: THE INCARNATION OF SECULAR PRIESTHOOD IN THE POETRY OF JAYNE CORTEZ.... ........................... 237 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION: IT ALL COMES BACK TO YOU ... 281 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 289 VITA ................................................... 299 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Since the beginning of the twentieth century, critics of African-American poetry have disagreed vehemently about poetic form. Some, like J. Saunders Redding, for instance, have expressed skeptiticsm about poetry based upon oral forms, others, like Sterling Brown, have argued that a viable poetics can be developed from black expressive forms. This dissertation analyzes the debate over black poetic form and traces the development of modernist and postmodernist poetics that have been shaped by the specific contours of African-American vernacular culture. Yet this study is not merely formalistic. Although "All Blues” describes a blues aesthetic by examining intertextual relationships between the poetry and oral forms, it also examines the role of poetry in cultural politics. While previous studies of African-American poetry have focused primarily upon content, "All Blues" assumes the challenge posed by Black Aesthetic critics and, later, sherley Anne Williams. At the same time, this study demonstrates that it is possible to discuss the specificity of African-American style in the work of Langston Hughes, sterling Brown, Margaret Walker, Amiri Baraka, and Jayne Cortez without resorting to chauvinism. By examining the creative process in the blues tradition, we can observe a strategy among the poets that bears vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. close resemblance. More specifically, we can identify three main bodies of blues poetics. Some poets riff upon, that is, mimic black oral forms; some poets fuse their dedication to vernacular culture with a concern for literary conventions; and some poets incarnate blues musicians. In addition, "All Blues" calls the form- versus-content opposition into question. Form becomes the blues poet's distinct method to contribute to the quest for African-American cultural autonomy. The reconceptualization of the notion of form allows critics to assess the work of a largely ignored poet like Kalamu ya Salaam who has used rhetoric as a poetic medium. Thus, "All Blues" charts the infusion of new forms into American literary discourse. vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: ALL BLUES / NEW ORLEANS STYLE One night in New Orleans about fifteen years ago I went to see the Dirty Dozen Brass Band perforin at a local bar called The Glass House. Located uptown on Saratoga Street, the bar lay in the heart of a working-class black community. As I recall, the entrance fee was two dollars with a two drink minimum. Inside, the air was thick with cigarette smoke. I remember feeling cramped. There was little leg space,