d that
while he is writing a story about Indians he frequently leaves this to
tell how he feels as a Negro. The following stanzas, however, are
pertinent to present-day discussion:

'Tis hard to judge if hatred of one's race,
By those who deem themselves superior-born,
Be worse than that quiescence in disgrace,
Which only merits--and _should_ only--scorn!
Oh! let me see the Negro, night and morn,
_Pressing_ and fighting in, for place and power!
If he a proud escutcheon would adorn,
All earth is place--all time th' auspicious hour,
While heaven leans forth to see, oh! can he quail or cower?

Ah! I abhor his protest and complaint!
His pious looks and patience I despise!
He can't evade the test, disguised as saint,
The manly voice of freedom bids him rise,
And shake himself before Philistine eyes!
And, like a lion roused, no sooner than
A foe dare come, play all his energies,
And court the fray with fury if he can!
For hell itself respects a fearless manly man.

In 1890 Whitman brought out an edition of _Not a Man and Yet a Man_
and _The Rape of Florida_, adding to these a collection of
miscellaneous poems, _Drifted Leaves_, and in 1901 he published _An
Idyl of the South_, an epic poem in two parts. It is to be regretted
that he did not have the training that comes from the best university
education. He had the taste and the talent to benefit from such
culture in the greatest degree.

This brief review of the work of three earnest members of the race
prompts a few reflections on the whole art of poetry as this is
cultivated by the Negro in America. If we may make any reasonable
deduction from the work of the poets studied, if we may arrive at any
conclusion from the work of Paul Laurence Dunbar and the younger
writers of the day, we should say that the genius of the race is
subjective and romantic rather than objective and classic. In poetry,
least of all arts, does the Negro conceal his individuality. This is
his great gift, but also in another way the spur to further
achievement. The race should in course of time produce many brilliant
lyric poets. Dunbar was a lyric poet; so was Pushkin. The drama and
the epic obviously call for more extended information, a more
objective point of view, and a broader basis in general culture than
many members of the race have so far had the time or the talent or the
inclination to give to them.

Again, h