Literary Criticism

The James A. Emanuel Literary Criticism Collection contains the document “Lifelong Contributions to African American Literature.” It also includes draft pages of “A Poet’s Mind” (1983), Emanuel’s poetry textbook, and draft pages of “Broadside Critics Series,” (1970-1975) for which Emanuel served as the general editor. These resources are mentioned to illuminate Emanuel’s contribution as a literary scholar.

Resource slideshow

To the teacher (notes for Editor) My grammar and structure: Notes for A number of sentences have phrases and clauses in series. but they are controlled for relatively easy reading. Not only .•• but also is rather common. viii-ix Phrases to open sentences like "Either way" (p . 14, line 2). are not common . Student must sometimes refer to suffixes in CEp. L21,0. Exampl e of seemingly difficult sentence that is not difficult when one reads carefully: "A nuclear creative force •• . " on p . 25, lines 7-10 (and nucleus appears on P/ 26, line 4) . Careful punctuation in the use of commas should aid understanding. Points common to both prose and poems: Participle phrases are rather common . Careful syntactical structure should help in poems and in prose (even with sentences on pages 29 (final sentence) . _ and 3rd -. -~ 43 (2nd/sentences) 44 (final sentence), 57 (2nd sentence). Exercises (and discussion): Questions are usually aimed at promoting a basic understanding of the whole poem or of some rather difficult or crucial part. Spece allotment is less than the new Dec- 1981 plan (not on band during my writing) allows , because of my belief that reading the poem is more important than extra questions about it . "Poetic prose": Poetic unity of imagery is found in the prose , as in lines 16-19 , p. 57 (ring , dotted line , circle linked to meaning) . Words and phrases expl ained: in footn otes (175!), in context (32); and student is asked to look up (11) . Length of poems, varies from 6 to 49 lines . "Pre-reading questions": They are subordinated to , but are included in, chapter introductions that give insight into the whole pattern of the book.

A Poet's Mind, To the Teacher

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