Sterling A. Brown (1901-1989)

A selective list of online literary criticism for the African American poet Sterling Brown, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer-reviewed sources

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introduction

"Sterling Brown." Eds. Cary Nelson and Mark A. Sanders. Excerpts from influential critical commentary on Sterling Brown. Includes sections on his Life and Career; On "Memphis Blues"; On Slim Greer, his cycle of satiric poems; On "Rent Day Blues"; On "Old Lem"; On "Sharecroppers"; On "Southern Cop"; About Sharecropping; From Preface to Southern Road; Southern Road and the "New Negro Renaissance"--by J. Smethurst; Illustrations to Brown's Southern Road; "Negro Folk Expression: Spirituals, Seculars, Ballads and Work Songs"--An Essay by Sterling Brown; "Stray Notes on Jazz"--An Essay by Sterling Brown; A Photo Dossier on Sharecropping; About Lynching. Modern American Poetry (Univ. of Illinois).

Smethurst, James. "Southern Road and the "New Negro Renaissance." On Sterling Brown's distinction between the term "Harlem Renaissance," which he rejected, and the term "New Negro Renaissance," a literary movement with which he identified. Brief excerpt from The New Red Negro: The Literary Left and African American Poetry, 1930-1946.

"Sterling A. Brown." A brief introduction, from the Academy of American Poets.

"Sterling A. Brown." Strategies for teaching themes, structure, style. Ed. by John Edgar Tidwell. From the educational publisher Heath.

"Poet E. Ethelbert Miller on Sterling Brown." Beltway: A Poetry Quarterly.

Brief review of Revenge and Forgiveness, an anthology of poems for young adults, edited by Patrice Vecchione, which includes among its selections Sterling Brown's "Bitter Fruit of the Tree." Kirkus Reviews.

Tidwell, John Edgar. An introduction to Sterling Brown from the Literary Encyclopedia, 04 July 2002 [subscription service].

literary criticism

Campbell, D.K. Review of A Son's Return: Selected Essays of Sterling A. Brown. MELUS Winter, 1998 [preview or purchase, for $42! at jstor].

Manson, Michael Tomasek. Sterling Brown and the 'vestiges' of the blues: the role of race in English verse structure. MELUS Spring, 1996 [preview or purchase, for $42! at jstor].

Gabbin, Joanne V. "Sterling Brown's poetic voice: a living legacy," African American Review Fall, 1997 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Sanders, Mark A. "Sterling A. Brown and the Afro-modern moment." African American Review Fall, 1997 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Simmons, Hortense E. Sterling A. Brown's "Literary Chronicles." African American Review Fall, 1997 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Skinner, Beverly Lanier. "Sterling Brown: an ethnographic perspective." Says Skinner, "The ethnographic approach that Sterling Brown pioneered answers the call made by several of today's cutting-edge social scientists for a radical, multi-vocal, culturally astute approach to cultural studies." African American Review Fall, 1997 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Thomas, Lorenzo. "Authenticity and elevation: Sterling Brown's theory of the blues," African American Review Fall, 1997 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Tidwell, John Edgar. "Two writers sharing: Sterling A. Brown, Robert Frost, and 'In Dives' Dive.'" In connection with Brown's use of Robert Frost, the meaning of "influence" as both convergence and divergence between Frost's and Brown's vision of American poetic tradition. African American Review Fall, 1997 [preview or purchase at jstor].

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