Dear John, Dear Coltrane (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Michael S. Harper
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: African Americans, Love or romance, Music or musicians, Substance abuse, Pain, Death or dying, Jazz music, Drug addiction or addicts, Drugs, Spirituals, Diseases
From the first book of poetry he published, which used the name of John Coltrane in its title, through the fourth section of Healing Song for the Inner Ear (1985), which is called “My Book on Trane,” and beyond, Harper has written about the legendary composer and performer as a mythic but human figure whose life contains many of the most vital and troubling elements of black experience. “Dear John, Dear Coltrane,” which is both an address to the spirit of the artist and a paean to his achievement, is written as a dramatized expression of the musician himself: “It is...
[The entire page is 818 words long]
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