James Weldon Johnson Summary

Johnson, James Weldon (1871-1938) James Weldon Johnson enjoyed success as a novelist, poet, songwriter, educator, diplomat, lawyer, and as an official of the National Association for the Advancement o... Read more

Biography EssayVersatility is the most salient characteristic of the life and career of James Weldon Johnson. Equipped with restless intelligence, abundant energy, and "an abhorrence of spare time," h... Read more

Versatility is the most salient characteristic of the life and career of James Weldon Johnson . Equipped with restless intelligence, abundant energy, and "an abhorrence of spare time," he crowded almo... Read more

In the following review, Brawley lauds "the simple, direct, and sometimes sensuous expression" of several poems in Johnson's Fifty Years, and Other Poems. From time to time for... Read more

In the following essay, Redding investigates Johnson's use of dialect and the "Southern Negro idiom" in his poetry. In a book entitled Some Versions Of Pastoral, published in 1... Read more

In the following essay, Fleming suggests that Johnson significantly revised his poem 'Fifty Years ' prior to its publication in order to make it more acceptable to white audiences. Ja... Read more

In the following essay, Fleming suggests the influence of Johnson 's God's Trombones on William Faulkner's southern black preacher in The Sound and the Fury. Studies of Faulkne... Read more

In the following review, Monroe praises Johnson's God's Trombones as "his own highest achievement as a poet." For some time Mr. Johnson has been known as a leader among ... Read more

In the following review, Cullen favorably assesses the poems of Johnson's God's Trombones. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns; and the s... Read more

In the following excerpt, Bronz examines the social importance of Johnson 's early poetry in Fifty Years, and Other Poems and comments on his later work as a precursor to the Harlem Renaissance... Read more

In the following essay, Long surveys Johnson 's poetic works, assessing his evolving notion of "the function of the poet." The verse output of James Weldon Johnson falls into f... Read more

When most people think of death they have a negative thought, after all it is the end of their life on earth, but others see it as a freeing blissful opportunity. The poem "Go Down Death" by James W... Read more