The Poetry of Black Experience as Counterpoint to the Poetry of the Black Aesthetic

Author(s): Sandra Govan

Source: Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter, 1974), pp. 288-292
Published by: St. Louis University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3041163
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 THE POETRY OF BLACK EXPERIENCE AS
COUNTERPOINT TO THE POETRY
OF THE BLACK AESTHETIC

It can be highly exasperating for the bud- ticular responsibilities. These "definitions"
ding critic to have a projected thesis, one which may seem tenuous and poorly defined but I believe
turns/turned on several preconceived notions, they contain the grain of truth that warrants
suddenly become eel-like or wispy and elusive of further exploration.
one's supposed intellectual grasp. One becomes The credo of the Black Aesthetic is still in
enamoured of fancy titles or one becomes obsessed the process of fonnulation: therefore, one should
with the mind-boggling brilliance of the original not make any hard and fast judgments about what
idea and strives zealously, albeit arbitrarily, it is or what it isn't. However, general obser-
to find the proofs to support both said fancy vation leads me to suspect that most of the ar-
title and aforementioned brilliance. This is/was tists who consciously participate in the creation
my predicament as a critic. What follows is my process geared to a Black Aesthetic subscribe in
attempt to rescue, resurrect, or restructure some form or another to the following- -most would
those wayward arguments/notions I once had (con- agree that there is a definite need for a Black
cerning "Black Experience" vs. "Black Aesthetic") Aesthetic and a great many might concur with Don
before they become too deeply mired in the morass L. Lee that such a need arises "from the fact that
of scatological semantics and treacherous termi- black people see nothing in the same frame of
nology. reference as white people. ,,1 James Emanuel notes
To begin at the beginning, I somewhat arbi- that "the need for a black aesthetic has been ar-
trarily decided to distinguish between what I gued not only on the basis of the black man's
considered to be the poetry of Black Experience psyche but also on the basis of institutionalized
and the poetry of the Black Aesthetic. No doubt, racism." Thirdly, many authors are stressing that
a definition of tenns, i.e., what I consider a Black Aesthetic must develop because of racism
"poetry of Black Experience" and "poetry of Black in the literary establishment. 2 (There is a great
Aesthetic," would be of great assistance in the deal of emphasis on this point because the ar-
clarification process--but, therein lies the dif- tists from the Black Aesthetic say that whites
ficulty. When I began, I had a vague, i f unfonnu- not only cannot judge and evaluate their works
lated, idea of what I thought were substantial from the "same old same old" Western standards,
or at least easily substantiated differences be- they don't have the right to evaluate them at all.
tween these two categories of Black poetry. How- Black art must be judged by a Black merit system
ever, the more I read, particularly in tenns of and these artists and critics are in the process
theme, the fuzzier and more nebulous the distinc- of creating such a system.) This kind of discus-
tions became. The differences between the poetry sion capsulizes the many valid arguments stress-
of each of my "artificial" genres become less ing the need for a Black Aesthetic. How that
than overwhelming when one seeks to pinpoint them. Black Aesthetic is structured, what comprises it
So, confronted with that kind of dilenuna, I was and who defines it is another kind of discussion.
left with two tenable choices: either dispense The inspirational and cultural heroes of the
wi th the whole idea and begin anew, or take the Black Art or Black Aesthetic movement are lmamu
plunge and risk the hell-fires of criticism in Amiri Baraka, Don L. Lee and Hoyt Fuller; also,
an attempt to validate the remnants of a still particularly in tenns of Black cultural national-
salvageable idea. ism, Maulana Ron Karenga. These men (among sever-
I chose the latter alternative. My first al other prominent figures) seem to do much of
premise was that the essential difference between the shaping for the Black Aesthetic. Karenga
the poetry of the Black Aesthetic and what I puts forth the most thematically concrete tenets:
choose to call the poetry of Black Experience is Black art, like everything else in the
that the poetry of Black Aesthetic is more Black conununity, must respond positively
"structured" or "directed" to the Pesponsibi Li- to the reality of revolution. . . • Black
ties of the artist, both artistically and politi- artists and those who wish to be consider-
cally; he must reflect a Black experience and ed artists must accept the fact that what
he/she must do it in such a fashion that the art is needed is an aesthetic, a Black aesthet-
"teaches and instructs" the Black conmrunity. On ic, that is the criteria for judging the
the other hand, the poetry of the Black Experi- validity and/or the beauty of a work of
ence simply reflects a Black experience or any art . . . • Art can be judged on two levels,
other experience that has in some fashion touched on the social level and on the artistic
the artist and that he considers worthy of artis- level. . . . We say that all Black art,
tic treatment/conunent, without imposing any par- irregardless tsiST of any technical require-
288
 ments, must have three basic charac-
teristics which make it revolutionary.
In brief, it must be functional, col-
lective, and conmi tting. Black art
must expose the enemy, praise the
people and support the revolution.
~ere Karenga cites LeRoi Jones' poems
That are "assassins' poems • • .,"
poems that "kill and shoot guns." The
specific poem is called "Black Art. "7
Black art ••. must be from the peo-
ple and must be returned to the people
in a form more beautiful and colorful
than it was in real life. We say that
individualism is a luxury that we can-
not afford; moreover, individualism is,
in effect, nonexistent . . " What one
seeks, however, is not a standardiza-
tion of every move or creation but a
framework in which one can create and
avoid the European gift of trial and
error. Black art • • . must conuni t
us to revolution and change. 3
Others, like Lee, Fuller, or Addison Gayle,
are not so specifically structured in their com-
ments. Lee feels that there is (in Black art
created within the Black Aesthetic framework) a
"gut-emotion level which must predominate, and a
technical level which must not be too obvious but
must seem, and in fact be, natural and real. "4
Fuller describes the Black Aesthetic movement as
a kind of elevated seek and find process, a "sys-
tem of isolating and evaluating the artistic
works of black people which reflect the special
character and imperatives of Black experience."S
Addison Gayle conceives of the Black Aesthetic as
a "corrective--a means of helping black people
out of the polluted mainstream of America. . •
The problem of the de-Americanization of black
people lies at the heart of the Black Aesthet-
ic."6
Needless to say, there are many other learn-
ed opinions that one could cite on the nature of
the Black Aesthetic. Many feel that the Black
Aesthetic is "brutally honest," "profoundly mor-
al," with the mission of reinterpreting "the
Black experience" or memorializing "in beauty and
truth" the essence of the BlaCK heritage. Some
say it has to deal with both "love and killing
and learning to live and survive in a nation of
killers." 7 Others say the only difference be-
tween present day Black artists and those of the
past is anger and Black nationalism.
There are various "authorities" on the Black
Aesthetic, but in the main I suspect they'd all
agree in part that the poetry of the Black
Aesthetic generally adheres to these tenets: it
believes in art/poetry as weapons; it is didactic
and stresses the responsibility of the work of
art to teach or in some other fashion to relate
to the Black community; again, it stresses the
responsibility of the artist to draw from and
return something to the Black cOllllllUIli ty • The
poetry of the Black Aesthetic regards the lan-
guage of the street, with all the different clas-
sifications such as "frank," "honest," "obsce:!e,"
2'89
"colorful," or "vulgar" as its special province.
It is generally nonpersonal in the sense that the
poet does not reflect his own inner feelings on
a subject but voices the collective feelings of
the people or exhorts to a collective audience on
a subject that concerns the cOllllllUIlity. It cele-
brates Afro-American and African cultural and
national heroes; it has a close relation to Black
music. Black Aesthetic poetry does not tolerate
white (Western/European/American) critical stan-
dards, nor does it show any regard, special or
otherwise, for a whi te audience. An important
exception to note at this point is that there did
appear at one time an outpouring of work whose
every intention seemed to be aimed at "tellin'
whitey to kiss off or be killed" and telling
Blacks, or more specifically "niggas," to s1:raight-
en up or be "offed" when the revolution comes.
In short, despite disclaimers, there have been
"protest poems" against the white man's injustice
and the Black man's apathy.
Whites are not considered human or are char-
acterized as "devils," "beasts," or "mothafuckas ,'t
and Blacks who aren't revolutionary are either to
be pitied or condemned as bourgeois Negroes, sad
"mothafuckas," or "jive-ass niggas." Arthur P.
Davis characterizes much of the protest poems
against whites in the Black Aesthetic poetry as
the "poetry of black hate. "8 Davis finds Charles
Anderson's "Prayer to the White Man's God" typical
of the new attitude. God's indifference to the
persona's pleas is not unusual, in spite of its
colloquial form:" Go 'way boy/I don't
want to hear you aroy." But the response of Jesus
quite clearly belongs to Black Aesthetic atti-
tudes: "But I know Jesus hear me/Cause he spit
righ t in my eye. "9
Frankly, I think most people not taken
aback by the rejection of Christianity would con-
sider Anderson's protest against whites/white
values as extremely mild. Less mild are the poems
that share a theme and outlook similar to those
in "Santa Claus," in which author Ted Joans re-
fers to the ti tIe figure as a "WHITE MJTHER HUB-
BARD," a "RED SUITED FAGGOT," an "old fat
CRACKER," and an "OVER STIJFFED GUT BUSTING GANG-
BUSTER. " In the final lines, the persona hurls
a hostile challenge; if Santa dares to show up,
the persona declares that ''HE AND ME SHOW GONNA
HAVE A BATTLING XMAS/AND IT SHOW AIN'T GONNA BE
WHlTE."IO
Or there are poems that incorporate a hate
for white dehumanism juxtaposed with a love for
Blacks; "a/coltrane/poem" by Sonia Sanchez rep-
resents this type. Sanchez advocates a "love-
supremealovesupremealovesupreme for our blk
people" and then demands that Black people push,
punch, and stomp all "THE WlTEjID1HA/ fuckas ," the
''MAIN/LlNE/ASS/RISTOCRATS'' who kill Blacks with
their "CAPITALISM/18% OWNERSHIP/OF THE WORLD."
The ''MURDER POVERTI STARVATION" caused by whites
will end only if Blacks will first set fire to
"1HEY pilgrim asses," then "TEAR OUT 1HEY eyes,"
and finally "STRETffi they necks. "11
And then there are poems truly indicative of
what the Black Aesthetic seems to want to be
about. Mari Evans' "Speak the Truth to the Peo-
ple" is an illuminating example. "Truth" will
free the people with sense, reason, and honesty,
and ''with Love and Courage and Care for their
Being." The enemy is legion: fantasy, unwisdom,
flight from the enemy, a loved and trusted bro-
ther. When this enemy is identified, the mind
will be free to build a series of ''Black'' enti-
ties--schools, children, minds, love, impregna-
bility--with the ultimate goals being "to BUILD
a strong black nation/TO BUILD" and to ''Move them
(Blacks) ••• to a BLACK ONENESS." All of this
will be accomplished only if Black artists and
l~aders "Speak to the mind of the people/Speak
truth."12
Now, one could very easily suggest that if
all the material and poetry I've cited is in the
realm of the poetry of the Black Aesthetic, what
then is left in the province of the so-called po-
etry of the Black Experience? My answer is that
thematically the two genres may be extremely
close; it is perhaps in terms of approach to sub-
ject, and most definitely in terms of language
and structure/forms, that the two styles differ.
For the purposes of counterpoint then, what
follows is my synthesis of what makes up the po-
etry of the Black Experience. As mentioned earli-
er, one of the principal distinctions is that the
artist who creates from the Black Experience has
no direct obligations or responsibilities (other
than to his idea of craftsmanship) imposed on him
from without. His poetry can be and often is
highly individualistic and personal, ''personal''
in the sense that it may not be sharing a "collec-
tive" experience. While many writers will use
racial themes or the Black heritage as a reference
point, they resist being restricted to this area;
when they do utilize a common Black experience,
they may cast it into a broadened "democracy for
all" type of context. Oftentimes, the poet of the
Black Experience will use Black history or inci-
dents familiar to Black Americans as subject mat-
ter; while the poem may indeed by instructive or
educational, to "teach" would not be its primary
goal--in most instances, that goal would be the
poet's exploration of the history or incident and
his poetic treatment of the subject and willing-
ness to share his perspective with anyone who is
willing to read the work. I think it's debatable
whether the poet of Black Experience takes any
particular cognizance of his audience. For exam-
ple, if the work is simply fraught with literary
allusions and highly stylized metaphorical alle-
gories, I believe it's safe to assume that the
audience expected is a scholarly or academic au-
dience. On the other hand, there is no dictum
that requires the poet to use any particular lan-
guage in shaping his poetry. Consequently, in
most instances, the poetry of Black Experience
will be shaped so that any literate audience can
easily relate to it.
With the last two items of my synthesis there
is a great deal of room for debate, and I suspect
the entire issue may hinge on perspective. Is
the poetry of Black Experience more "scholarly"
than the poetry of the Black Aesthetic? Obvious-
290
ly, the answer will depend on one's notion of the
defini tion of "scholarly." If one takes scholar-
ly to mean familiarity with and ability to use or
allude to the range of European or Western poetic
thought and practices, then "yes," quite often
the work of poets from the Black Experience will
be scholarly. However, many poets of the Black
Aesthetic are very much into an exploration of
Mrican roots and heritage. One can find refer-
ences and allusions to ancient Mrican empires
and civilizations, references to Mrican deities
or folk practices, references to Mrican art, and
references to Mrican national and cultural heroes.
The fact that most American schools do not teach
any courses relating to the history or culture of
Africa indicates that the poets who are familiar
with Mrican culture had to research and educate
themselves on the subject--are we to say then
that their work is "unscholarly" because the ref-
erences or poetic techniques are African and
Mro-American and not European or Western? I
think not.
A similar argument may be posed when explor-
ing the concepts of objectivity and subjectivity
in the poetry of the Black Experience. The terms
themselves are relative and the objective/subjec-
tive stance of the poet may well depend on the
subject/experience depicted in the poem. Again,
perspective is involved.
Lastly, in terms of counterpoint synthesis,
I think a very definite case can be made for dis-
tinctions in form between the poetry of the Black
Aesthetic and the poetry of Black Experience.
The poets of Black Experience are not only famil-
iar with Western/European techniques and modes,
they use those modes in their poetry. They may
borrow from a variety of poetic schools for vari-
ous stanza forms -- the ode, SOIll1e t , lyric or s truc-
tured free verse. They may use such devices as
rhyming couplets or a particular European metre.
Generally, the diction used is Western, the Eng-
lish, "standard." Their forms may have been ex-
perimental but, by and large, experiments ground-
ed on models initiated by Eliot, Pound, and Yeats
and not only by a Black folk tradition. The two
principal exceptions to this rule of thumb are,
of course, Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown.
Both of these men were geniuses at experimenting
with new forms derived from Black experiences and
Black music--blues, jazz, work and prison songs.
Much of their poetry maintains a fidelity to the
richness and fullness of fluid rhythmic Black
speech patterns, both rural and urban. By and
large though, I'd suggest that the language--the
idioms and images--used by most of the poets
(even Hughes and Brown) from the Black Experience
framework is considerably more "sedate" than a
poetic diction that might well call for "crushing
the nuts of the oppressive white devil motha-
fucka."
The distinctions I'm making are not hard and
fast: there are any number of writers whose
work can fall into ei ther or both of my artifi-
cial genres dependent on either the style of the
work or the period/time the poem was created.
Having said that, I'd like to use Robert Hayden
and his works as illustrative of the poets who
utilize a Black Experience reference point. Un-
der no circumstances can one advocate that Hayden
is enamoured of the Black Aesthetic; yet he has
done extensive reading and research into Afro-
American history, both folk and formal, and his-
toric or Black cultural events central to the
emergence of the Black American often form a ma-
jor theme in his poetry. Hayden's poetic credo
is that a poet who is free of political or racial
strictures can make significant and aesthetically
valid statements about any aspect of man's experi-
ence that he chooses. By broadening the lU1der-
standing of the human condition, he feels the
poet deepens the lU1derstanding of the significance
of the Black experience. I suspect Hayden arrived
at this position after years of study. In an ef-
fort to avoid a political stance Hayden grolU1ds
his work in history; however, much of that work
is still political in the sense that it is molded
by the events shaping the entire world. No poet
of the period truly ignored the impact of the
Great Depression and the dislocations and hard-
ships it caused, nor could he ignore the rise and
influence of the Conummist party. Dudley Randall
notes that in this period, which was Hayden's for-
mative period, "Black writers did not give up
their struggle for Negro rights, but regarded it
as a part of the struggle for the rights of men
everywhere. ,,13 Randall's essay includes Hayden's
highly "political" poem "Speech"; the persona,
having seen both the hand that holds " . • . the
blowtorch/To the dark, anguish-twisted body" and
the hand that gives" • . • the high-sign/To fire
on the white pickets," concludes " . • . it was
the same hand,/Brother, ••• /It was the same
hand. "
Another "political" poem by Hayden, one
grolU1ded in world events, emphasizes the ~omnon­
ali ty of the oppressed everywhere. "In L1ght
Half Nightmare and Half Vision," the persona com-
pares the victims of Dachau and Buchenwald with
those of Johannesburg and Seoul; and he relates
their suffering to his own and to that of Jesus,
" . . • man beatified/and Godly mystery," who
also "lies chained in criminal darkness. "14
The Afro-American experience in this cOlU1try
is built on violence and oppression and on the
denial of basic human rights. Hayden, well aware
of these experiences, notes them time and again,
but nowhere so impressively as in "Figure." In
this highly structured poem evincing a traditional
syntax and form, the subject matter--the lynching
of a Black man--carries an overpoweringly emo-
tional undercurrent because of the nondidactic,
"low keyed" observer's stance. Haltered to a
"tall columnar tree" by a doubled length of the
kind of chain ". . • a farmer might have had use
for or a man wi th/ a vicious dog, . . . " the
"figure" sltm1ps, shaped like "a scythe in day-
light's clutch." The blood- streaked nude torso
is tersely dealt with in three short lines, but
the lowest-keyed lines--classic examples of the
effectiveness of lU1derstatement--are those re-
ferring to that ultimate reality/symbol of vio-
lence--castration: " . . . We observe that
291
his jeans are torn/at the groin." The final lines
reflect the symbolic lU1iversality of this inci-
dent; the "figure" is not only a " • • . metaphor
of a place, a time • . ."; it is also" . • . our/
time geomotrized."lS
Hayden also reflects the Black Experience
reference point in his awareness that much of
Black culture is embedded in Black music. While
he does not use a blues or jazz form in his po-
etry, he does pay tribute to this aspect of Black
culture in ''Homage to the Empress of the Blues."
The "Empress" sang the blues: a mourning woman
moaned her "Faithless Love," a man "in a candy-
stripe silk shirt," " . . • dangerous as a ja-
guar"; other people " . • • feared alarming fists
of snow/on the door .•• ": still others" . • .
feared the riot-squad of statistics." In her
"yards of pearls," her "ostrich feathers," her
"beaded satin," and--above all--her "golden
smile," she both sang of and was herself a part
of the Black Experience. 16
Of course "Middle Passage" and "Runagate Run-
agate" are perhaps two of Hayden's best known and
most popular works. In terms of form, Hayden in-
corporated "all the innovations of the experimen-
tal poets of the 1920's: varied and expressive
rhythm; anti-poetic materials such as quotations
from handbills, legal docum~n~s, ships' log~i
scraps of poetry, hymns, SpU1 tuals; . • ., 7
(In this aspect of playing with form, Hayden is
also very close to many of the poets of the Black
Aesthetic. There seems to be an irony here some-
where) • In terms of theme, these two poems are
based on actual incidents from Black history. The
poems are subjective and emotional and yet form
exciting educational narratives of the beginning
of and escape from slavery.
The subject matter of much of Hayden's poetry
(as well as much of the poetry of others who use
the Black Experience) is woven from the fabric of
both world history and Afro-American history; any
experience that touches the sensitivity of the
artist is material for his creative processess.
Perhaps what makes the poetry that uses the Black
experience truly ''Black'' (and here semantics real-
ly playa part) is the personal feeling and in-
sight that Black writers, people close in kinship
to the experience, invest in their poetry. Per-
haps that "gut-emotion" level that Don Lee dis-
cusses for the poetry of the Black Aesthetic is
also an intrinsic part of the poetry of the Black
Experience.
In any event, the poetry of the Black Experi-
ence and the poetry of the Black Aesthetic prob-
ably have more in common than is now generally re-
cognized or credited. If theme and attention to
roots or history are the important things, the
differences between the two genres seem minor.
It really isn't necessary that one should have to
castigate the one genre, applying such labels as
''Negro'' poetry, for instance, in order to cele-
brate the other. In keeping with a pet theory
that nothing happens or develops in a vacuum, I'd
suggest that the poetry of the Black Aesthetic
builds from and modifies a tradition established
and utilized by the poets of the Black Experience.
 are
central to art as well as life; it is only
tural that change will be reflected in the poet-
of the Black Aesthetic, that's what the crea-
process is all about. I am sorely tempted
paraphrase LeRoi Jones and retitle this whol~
"ect "Black Experience and the Black Aesthet1c:
Changing Same." SLAM!
Sandra Govan steel cold bars of ice
Luther College
calculated to steal the sensitivity
NOTES
of a man
IJames Emanuel, ''Blackness Can: A Quest for
thetics," in Addison Gayle's The Blaak Ae8thet- and incarcerate his spirit in terms of
(New York, 1972), p. 187. wallsdoorslocksfences & KEYS! KEYS! KEYS! KEYS!
2Ibid., pp. 187-188 dangling
3Maulana Ron Karenga, ''Black Art: Mute Mat- clinking/ chiming
er Given Force and Function," in Abraham Chap- rhyming from
's New Blaak Voiae8 (New York, 1972), pp. 477- the hips hands hearts of this heartless jailer
81; by permission of the author the keyLESS ones must wait/survive . • . . . •
4Don L. Lee, '~oward a Definition: Black wai t on the morningtime. wait.
IPn,O'tT"V of the Sixties," in Gayle's The Blaak
on the word
thetia, p. 222. of a speechless judge
sHoyt Fuller, "Towards a Black Aesthetic," time. becomes you.
Gayle's The Blaak Ae8thetia, p. 8. becomes yr god
0Addison Gayle, "Introduction," in The Blaak yr hope & hope-to-die partner
thetia, p. xxi. yr irreverent enemy
7Julian Mayfield, '~ou Touch My Black time. irrelevant time/hardtime/"Good Times"
thetic and I'll Touch Yours," in Gayle's The on fri nites
Ae8thetia, p. 29. i f the man
8Arthur P. Davis, '1be New Poetry of Black dug last week'
te," in Donald Gibson's Modem Blaak Poet8 inspection:
Jersey, 1973), pp. 147-156. no shanks
9Charles Anderson, "Prayer to the White no ink pens
's God," in Blaak Fire, eds. LeRoi Jones and only 10 letters
Neal (New York, 1968), p. 191. only six pictures
OTed Joans, "Santa Claus," in under8tanding no revolutionary consciousness-contraband-collec-
New Blaak Poetry, ed. Stephen Henderson tive actions
York, 1973), p. 223. innocence & guilt depend on time. money.
llSonia Sanchez, "a/coltrane/poem," in Hender- and a badassss lawyer (whi-te of course)
's Under8tanding the New Blaak Poetry, p. 275. brothers in crime/partners
lZMari Evans, "Speak the Truth to the People," for maintaining
Henderson's Under8tanding the New Blaak Poet- sanity & strength relive old lies
p. 253. & create new images of themselves
13Dudley Randall, '~he Black Aesthetic in the as they run it down 'bout they
es, Forties, and Fifties," in Gibson's bitches/hogs/&jones
IMn,'1p.~>n Blaak Poet8, p. 36.
Chicans/from puertorico
Hayden, "In Light Half Nightmare talkin fastfast latintalk
Half Vision," in Chapman's Blaak Voiaes putting their pain up front
York, 1968), p. 441. and on display
lsHayden, "Figure," in Blaak Voiaes, pp. 440- remembering old mexico & p.r. smoke
4l.
l6Hayden, '~omage to the Empress of the whi-te boy criminals/hypes/embezzlers (whi-te
t" in Blaak Voiaes, p. 443. collar criminal) thieves
Randall, op. ait. . 37.
and some be hip
but not conscious
remember the days of free will/acts
and stay out the penitentiary
Herb Dyer, Jr.
Indiana State University

292