The Poetry of Michael S. Harper (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Michael S. Harper
- First Published: 1977
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: African Americans, Freedom, History, Self-discovery, Suffering, Music or musicians, Friendship, Poetry or poets, Pain, Jazz music, Heroes or heroism, Mexico or Mexicans, South Africa or South Africans, Spirituals
The Work
Michael S. Harper is a poet with a strong individual style. His poetry is notable for the variable rhythm of its lines. Harper’s poems echo a variety of human speech patterns and rhythms. This characteristic distinguishes his rhythm from the more traditionally metric patterns of many poets. Harper’s looser rhythms work along with such techniques as repetition, internal rhyme, and enjambment (lines flowing together without pause at the end) to modulate sound in the poem. Sound is important in Harper’s poems; they are most effective when read aloud.
The...
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