First Poems

First published in 1945, this compilation features the work of Jamaican poet George Campbell. Perceptive and inspirational, these poems consider the events that marked the nationalist struggle for Jamaican independence, such as the imprisonment of militants by British colonial authorities, the appalling social conditions that drove the masses to revolt, and the desperate poverty of the black majority. Honoring martyred heroes of the Jamaican struggle against slavery and colonialism, Campbell writes about the hopes and consolations to be derived from religious faith, but a faith in which Jesus and Lenin were not necessarily incompatible icons. Other, more personal topics, such as love and its ecstasies and bitter disappointments and Jamaica’s natural beauty are also celebrated.

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First Poems

First published in 1945, this compilation features the work of Jamaican poet George Campbell. Perceptive and inspirational, these poems consider the events that marked the nationalist struggle for Jamaican independence, such as the imprisonment of militants by British colonial authorities, the appalling social conditions that drove the masses to revolt, and the desperate poverty of the black majority. Honoring martyred heroes of the Jamaican struggle against slavery and colonialism, Campbell writes about the hopes and consolations to be derived from religious faith, but a faith in which Jesus and Lenin were not necessarily incompatible icons. Other, more personal topics, such as love and its ecstasies and bitter disappointments and Jamaica’s natural beauty are also celebrated.

19.95 In Stock
First Poems

First Poems

by George Campbell
First Poems

First Poems

by George Campbell

Paperback(Reprint)

$19.95 
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Overview

First published in 1945, this compilation features the work of Jamaican poet George Campbell. Perceptive and inspirational, these poems consider the events that marked the nationalist struggle for Jamaican independence, such as the imprisonment of militants by British colonial authorities, the appalling social conditions that drove the masses to revolt, and the desperate poverty of the black majority. Honoring martyred heroes of the Jamaican struggle against slavery and colonialism, Campbell writes about the hopes and consolations to be derived from religious faith, but a faith in which Jesus and Lenin were not necessarily incompatible icons. Other, more personal topics, such as love and its ecstasies and bitter disappointments and Jamaica’s natural beauty are also celebrated.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781845231491
Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd.
Publication date: 12/15/2011
Series: Caribbean Modern Classics
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 72
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

George Campbell was a journalist and critic at the Daily Gleaner and Public Opinion in Jamaica. He was the cofounder of the literary magazine Focus and a consultant for the Institute of Jamaica and the People’s National Party news archives.

Table of Contents

Introduction 13

1 Release 35

2 Trees 36

3 "Both of us are dreaming of the splendid dawn" 37

4 "We went out into the moonlight last night" 38

5 "I could kiss this place" 39

6 "I have done wrong" 40

7 Essential 41

8 I Will Come 42

9 The Night 43

10 Litany 44

11 "Above the sea" 45

12 "Fashion a necklace of words" 46

13 "Listen, Moon" 47

14 Flaming Directions 48

II

15 "Meeting you is" 51

16 "When we part" 52

17 My Love 53

18 "Now I feel the full torture of love" 54

19 "We have visited strange places of pain" 55

20 "My bitter joy" 56

21 Drought 57

22 Magdalene 58

23 "In memory" 59

III

24 Negro Aroused 63

25 Last Queries 64

26 "I was Negro: mechanical beast of burden 66

27 Mother at Bed of her Dying Son 67

28 When I Pray 68

29 Holy 69

30 "O Solomon's fair" 70

31 "Your blackness steeps through me" 71

32 Mother 72

33 "New-World Flowers" 74

34 Market Women 75

35 Me an' Me Gal 76

IV

36 "A lovely funeral to the sea" 81

37 "These walking wombs" 82

38 "Blue dew from heaven" 83

39 Infinity 84

40 Hymn to Being 85

41 Passing 86

42 Tomorrow 87

43 Mountain Pine Trees 88

44 "What form" 89

45 "A cloud that was the faintest breath" 90

46 "So sad like the air" 91

47 "Iris - that lasts a day" 92

48 "Thou art as gentle as a tree" 93

49 Folk Poem 94

50 A Lonely Hill 95

V

51 Smells Like Hell 99

52 History Makers 101

53 "In the slums" 102

54 "I sung democracy" 103

55 Democracy 105

56 On this Night 106

57 Let us Build 108

58 "In promise of electric shocks" 109

59 New Constitution, 1945 110

60 Splendour 111

61 "Look at the value of us, count us" 112

62 To the Men in the Internment Camp 113

63 Sing 114

64 Constitution Day Poem 115

VI

65 Tomorrow 119

66 The Island 120

67 Moneyman 121

68 Grooves 123

VII

69 I Dreamed 127

70 Madness 128

71 "They who walk demurely" 129

72 "My covered stomach I unstomach" 130

73 Pioneer 131

74 The Last Negro 132

75 Harmony 133

76 Dawn 135

VIII

77 War 139

78 Moonlight in Peace and War 140

79 "World which auctions peace" 141

80 A World at War 142

81 A Time from War 143

82 To Kingdom Come 144

IX

83 Emancipation 147

Poems from the 1981 Edition

The Road (1955) 155

Labour Leader (1978) 156

Worker (1962) 157

So We Won the Elections 158

Black Cat Eyes (1955) 161

In Our Land 162

Tangerines Like Tigers' Eyes (1948) 163

Unfound 164

O When the Spirit Loves 165

Poem for Rachel (1960) 166

After Reading Chinese Poetry 167

Who Made the Poet? (1960) 168

Oh! Your Build a House 169

And the Sun Hath Followed Me (1958) 171

What Form? 172

Sequence of the poems in the 1981 edition 173

Biographical Sketch of George Campbell 176

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