Author: Campbell, George [1916-2002]
Title: First Poems
Description: [Kingston, Jamaica], City Printery, Ltd. (1945). First Edition, orig. wrappers. 24x15cm, 102 pp. Rubbed.. Flyleaves discolored. Some spots & stains to covers. Good. ¶ With an undated [ca. 1957] newsclipping by Derek Walcott from the (Jamaica)newspaper 'Public Opinion' titled "The Poetry of George Campbell" loosely inserted. ["Though he was born in Panama and spent most of his life in the USA, he is assured a place in Jamaican literature as the voice of a movement and of a crucial moment in the nation's history. Formative for Campbell was his friendship, from boyhood, with the Manley family...While Campbell's work was not so much an influence as an inspiration, it is fair to say that 'First Poems' directness, vigour and innocence indicated a new direction for West Indian poets of that turbulent period...At his concise best Campbell's political poems have the force of William Blake's. Poems such as 'Holy', 'Litany', and 'History Makers' -- still memorized by Jamaican school children --established Campbell as a national figure..." .- Laurence A. Breiner in "Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English"].

Keywords: Caribbean, Jamaica, Jamaican, Caribbean Poetry, Literary History, Afro-Caribbean, Literature, ,