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The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. When Black poets are discussed separately as a group, for instance, the extent to which their work reflects the development of poetry in general should not be forgotten, or a distortion of literary history may result. This caution is particularly relevant in an assessment of the differences between Black poets at the turn of the century (1900-1909) and those of the generation of the 1920’s. These differences include the bolder and more forthright speech of the later generation and its technical inventiveness. It should be remembered, though, that comparable differences also existed for similar generations of White poets.
When poets of the 1910’s and 1920’s are considered together, however, the distinctions that literary historians might make between “conservative” and “experimental” would be of little significance in a discussion of Black poets, although these remain helpful classifications for White poets of these decades. Certainly differences can be noted between “conservative” Black poets such as Counter Cullen and Claude McKay and “experimental” ones such as Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. But Black poets were not battling over old or new styles; rather, one accomplished Black poet was ready to welcome another, whatever his or her style, for what mattered was racial pride.
However, in the 1920’s Black poets did debate whether they should deal with specifically racial subjects. They asked whether they should only write about Black experience for a Black audience or whether such demands were restrictive. It may be said, though, that virtually all these poets wrote their best poems when they spoke out of racial feeling, race being, as James Weldon Johnson rightly put it, “perforce the thing the Negro poet knows best.”
At the turn of the century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner of the age and expressed noble, if vague, emotions in their poetry. These poets were not unusually gifted, though Roscoe Jamison and G. M. McClellen may be mentioned as exceptions. They chose not to write in dialect, which, as Sterling Brown has suggested, “meant a rejection of stereotypes of Negro life,” and they refused to write only about racial subjects. This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. As Brown observes, “Valuably insisting that Negro poets should not be confined to issues of race, these poets committed [an] error… they refused to look into their hearts and write.” These are important insights, but one must stress that this refusal to look within was also typical of most White poets of the United States at the time. They, too, often turned from their own experience and consequently produced not very memorable poems about vague topics, such as the peace of nature.
17. According to the passage, most turn-of-the-century Black poets generally did which of the following?
(A) Wrote in ways that did not challenge accepted literary practice.
(B) Described scenes from their own lives.
(C) Aroused patriotic feelings by expressing devotion to the land.
(D) Expressed complex feelings in the words of ordinary people.
(E) Interpreted the frustrations of Blacks to an audience of Whites.
18. According to the passage, an issue facing Black poets in the 1920’s was whether they should
(A) seek a consensus on new techniques of poetry
(B) write exclusively about and for Blacks
(C) withdraw their support from a repressive society
(D) turn away from social questions to recollect the tranquility of nature
(E) identify themselves with an international movement of Black writers
19. It can be inferred from the passage that classifying a poet as either conservative or experimental would be of “little significance” (line 21) when discussing Black poets of the 1910’s and the 1920’s because
(A) these poets wrote in very similar styles
(B) these poets all wrote about nature in the same way
(C) these poets were fundamentally united by a sense of racial achievement despite differences in poetic style
(D) such a method of classification would fail to take account of the influence of general poetic practice
(E) such a method of classification would be relevant only in a discussion of poets separated in time by more than three decades
20. The author quotes Sterling Brown in lines 53-56 in order to
(A) present an interpretation of some black poets that contradicts the author’s own assertion about their acceptance of various poetic styles
(B) introduce a distinction between Black poets who used dialect and White poets who did not
(C) disprove James Weldon Johnson’s claim that race is what “the Negro poet knows best”
(D) suggest what were the effects of some Black poets’ decision not to write only about racial subjects
(E) prove that Black poets at the turn of the century wrote less conventionally than did their White counterparts
21. It can be inferred from the passage that the author finds the work of the majority of the Black poets at the turn of the century to be
(A) unexciting
(B) calming
(C) confusing
(D) delightful
(E) inspiring
22. The author would be most likely to agree that poets tend to produce better poems when they
(A) express a love of nature
(B) declaim noble emotions
(C) avoid technical questions about style
(D) emulate the best work of their predecessors
(E) write from personal experience
23. Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author toward classification as a technique in literary history?
(A) Enthusiastic
(B) Indifferent
(C) Wary
(D) Derisive
(E) Defensive
A B C D A E C
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