Review by Choice Review
Far from a household name, even for students of African American literature, Albery Allson Whitman (1851-1901) is known, if at all, for his lyric "The Freedman's Triumphant Song," read at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and his narrative poem The Rape of Florida (1884). He is little discussed by scholars and little represented in most anthologies (he does appear in African-American Poetry of the Nineteenth Century, ed. by Joan Sherman, CH, Apr'93, 30-4232). Despite this neglect, Whitman may be the most significant African American poet of the 19th century, other than Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frances E. W. Harper. Clearly imitative of British Romantic poets such as Scott and Byron and of American poets Longfellow and Whittier, Whitman is important for his depictions of interactions between blacks, whites, and American Indians in the Midwest and Florida. In his informative introduction to this collection, Wilson makes the case for raising awareness of this prolific, historically significant poet. In addition to including more than 40 shorter poems and extensive excerpts from Whitman's four longer narratives, Wilson provides Whitman's prefaces to the longer works and several letters addressed to his contemporaries. For collections with extensive holdings in American poetry and/or African American literature. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students. L. J. Parascandola Long Island University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
