Poets of the Harlem Renaissance: The Poems that Spoke on Their Own
Female Poets
Although there were many successful men during this era, there was a multitude of women that captivated the eyes of audiences with their outspoken, critical poetry. These female poets have created a vast diversity in their poems, allowing them to become a representational voice and the opportunity to write from the persepective of a Female Negro during these times of pride, injustice, and discrimination.
Anne Spencer
Harlem Renaissance Poet, Anne Spencer, Micrsoft Bing
"While fewer than thirty of her poems were published in her lifetime, she was an important figure of the black literary movement of the 1920s—the Harlem Renaissance—and only the second African American poet to be included in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry (1973)." ~ Encyclopedia Virginia, C.2021
"Her work, most notably associated with the Harlem Renaissance, was well received and has appeared in numerous anthologies, earning Spencer recognition as an acclaimed American poet. She also influenced many of the African American writers and artists—among them W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Paul Robeson." ~ Virginia Changemakers
Anne Spencer's Feminist Modernist Poetics, Jenny Hyest, Lehigh University
Georgia Douglas Johnson
Harlem Renaissance Poet, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Microsoft Bing
Advertisment for Georgia Douglas Johnson book "The Heart of a Woman and Othe Poems", The Crisis, Google Books
"The most polific of Renaissance woman poets and the first Black woman poet of note since nineteenth-century writer and activist Frances Harper..."
~ "Shadowed Dreams: Woman's Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance", Maureen Honey (editor)
"She has been recognized as one of the first black feminist poets and the most profilic black woman playwright of the Harlem Renaissance."
~ "Part Two: Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966) American Woman Playwrights"
Gwendolyn B. Bennett
"This Renaissance artist's visual sensibilites often were reflected in her poetry as though she were painting with words"
~ "Gwendolyn Bennett: The Richest Colors on Her", Jerry Langley and Sandra Govan
"Her imagery was also consistent with her untiring effort to project a new image of the Negro in her art and writings"
~ "Gwendolyn Bennett: The Richest Colors on Her", Jerry Langley and Sandra Govan
.Gwedolyn B. Bennett, Microsoft Bing.
"Sterling Brown, for instance, compare Anner Spencer to Emily Dickinson, and calls Georgia Douglas Johnson's poetry "skillfull and fluent". James Weldon Johnson praises Gwendolyn Bennett for her "delicate, poignant" lyrics... "
~ "Shadowed Dreams: Women's Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance" Maureen Honey (editor)