Blue Meridian (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Toomer
- First Published: 1936
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Free verse, Poetry
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Race, God, Human race, Mississippi River, Spiritual life or spirituality
While still working on Cane in 1920 and 1921, Toomer wrote a 126-line poem he called “The First American,” which was published as “Brown River, Smile” in 1932. By that time, he had expanded it considerably, and the 835-line “Blue Meridian” was included in the 1936 anthology New American Caravan. Toomer has written of the poem's long gestation period: “Years were to pass . . . before the germ of ’The First American’ could grow and ripen and be embodied in ’The Blue Meridian.’” That germ, according to Toomer, was “that here in America we are in the...
[The entire page is 1200 words long]
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