Renaissance Poetry

Published to great acclaim in 1873, Walter Pater’s compendium of idiosyncratic, impressionistic essays on the Renaissance gained him a reputation as a daring modern philosopher. Oscar Wilde called it the “holy writ of beauty.” It was Pater’s cry of “art for art’s sake” that became the manifesto for the aesthetic movement. He believed that art should be sensual and that beauty should rank as the highest ideal. Marked by elegant fluency, Pater’s essays discuss Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other artists who, for him, embodied the spirit of the Renaissance.

When Walt Whitman self-published "Leaves of Grass" in 1855, he rocked the literary world and forever changed the course of poetry. In subsequent editions, Whitman continued to revise and expand his poems - but none matched the raw power and immediacy of the first edition. This volume presents the 1855 "Leaves of Grass" in its entirety, unchanged, along with Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous letter to Whitman.

Whispered tales of ages long ago, Do they still enchant, their magic glow? Into realms of Renaissance, with grace, alight, With Eternal Sonnets, feel passions ignite. Bound in pages, passion’s timeless quest, Each sonnet shines, among the very best. Elizabethan tales reborn, their voice so true, Their timeless allure, ever beckoning you. Through echoes of Shakespeare, ancient love resounds, Its timeless rhythm, in every heartbeat it’s found. Heavenly desires and earthly passions blend, In tales of an era, where love knows no end.

The first African American poet to achieve international fame, Paul Laurence Dunbar used his prodigious literary gifts to chronicle and celebrate Black life as he saw it. He utilized both traditional poetic forms and contemporary dialect in a range of styles—lyrical, conversational, and playful—as diverse as his themes. This collection, containing the entirety of Dunbar’s poetry, captures his still vital expressions of love, work, and family. It also serves as a revelatory expression of Dunbar’s frustrations with racial injustice and oppression.

This book compiles both the first (1855) and final (1892) versions of Walt Whitman's masterpiece Song of Myself in one volume, making it unique and valuable for students of American literature. 

Defiant, eloquent, and thoroughly modern, Claude McKay’s early collection of celebrated poems is widely recognized as having helped to spark the Harlem Renaissance. In Harlem Shadows, McKay gives precise and poignant expression to the injustices of white oppression in many forms. He also paints a vivid picture of Harlem at the dawn of its rebirth and shows the tremendous vitality of the neighborhood as well as the many threats it faced. 

Enjoy these classic love poems by Harlem Renaissance women authors. The journey here begins in seduction and endures trials and ends with a hint of past wonders. 

The intellectual and cultural revival of African-American arts and politics in the 1920s and 1930s was centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. Here are poems from three major contributors to that rebirth: The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes, The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and Copper Sun by Countee Cullen, delivered by three multiaward–winning narrators.

Countee Cullen was already a prominent literary figure when he published Color, his auspicious debut collection of poetry. In deceptively simple verse, and in harmony with lyric tradition rather than rebellion against it, Cullen covered such complex terrain as race, faith, mortality, sexuality, and identity. Cullen may be less well known today than his contemporaries, but his emotional candor, creative ambition, and impudent humor retain an unforgettable spark.

Poet Jean Toomer’s short-story and poetry collection.

From Children's Literature Legacy Award-winning author Nikki Grimes comes a feminist-forward new collection of poetry celebrating the little-known women poets of the Harlem Renaissance. For centuries, accomplished women - of all races - have fallen out of the historical records. The same is true for gifted, prolific women poets of the Harlem Renaissance who are little known, especially as compared to their male counterparts.

Enjoy these poems on brotherhood, connection, and community struggle by Harlem Renaissance authors. This collection is ideal for Black History and Women’s History programs.  

Enjoy these love and longing poems by Harlem Renaissance women authors. The journey here begins in dreams, moves with passion, and ends with heartache. 

Tutoyant avec aisance, à rebours des modes, une forme classique très maîtrisée, Michel Houellebecq met en scène dans ses poèmes un quotidien contemporain et urbain. Ses vers nous parlent de lui, nous parlent de nous et accèdent à lu'niversel, installant ainsi leur auteur, comme un Villon de la modernité, au rang des grands poètes populaires.

Enjoy these poems on exploration, fear, love, and loss by Harlem Renaissance women authors. This collection is ideal for black history and women’s history programs.

Truth spoken plainly and powerfully is difficult to dismiss and impossible to ignore. Edited with purpose by A. Gregory Frankson, AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets brings together some of Canada's most influential dub, page, and spoken word poetic voices and gives them space to speak freely about their personal journeys in piercing verse and unapologetic prose. Just as individual experiences of Blackness are diverse across Canada, each contributor recounts aspects of navigating their unique personal, professional, and artistic paths in Black skin.