Literature
Comprising poetry, plays, and fiction written either in or about the Caribbean, these items reveal the topics of interests and the sensibilities of Caribbean authors as well as the perception of the region in British and North American literary circle. |
Featured Items
Title |
Description |
|
|
This poem is a perfect example of why, in the study of North America or the Caribbean, printing from the other region are seemingly always relevant. This poem was composed by a missionary to Haiti upon the death of President Lincoln, and printed in Kingston, Jamaica. The significance of Lincoln's life and death reached beyond U.S. borders, and people across the Caribbean islands felt a strong enough connection to him to purchase and read commemorative poetry. This poem expresses the author's clear sense of anguish, fear, and above all, chaos in the world at the death of Lincoln. |
|
|
A short story published in a Boston periodical, the storyline follows the crew of two American merchant ships as they move through the Caribbean. It presents a very unflattering picture of the “Indians” and “Mulattoes” that threaten the Americans, who demonstrate greater courage and cunning. The Americans encounter intrigue and treachery by Spanish forces, as might be expected, resulting in a story that reveals many of the tensions and fears that swirled around the Caribbean world, dramatized for easy comprehension. |
|
|
A dramatic poem that purports to tell the tale of a slave insurrection on a Caribbean island, probably based on Martinique, Zamba follows its title character, who is enslaved on a plantation. Zamba plots with a “free mulatto” named Alphonse to kill his owners and lead a slave uprising. Ultimately, Zamba turns on Alphonse and saves the slaveholding family because of the moral guidance of an Evangelical Protestant missionary. |
|
|
(In Spanish) An 1828 printing in Havana, Cuba, this small packet was actually the second Spanish translation of a popular book of English poems written in the mid-eighteenth century by an Anglican priest. Notable for the extent of cultural sharing that its printing implies was ongoing in the Caribbean, as well as for being a lovely book of poetry whose popularity in Cuba is interesting in its own right. |
|
|
Dedicated to King Louis the XVI, this nine-book poem glamorized the story and character of Christopher Columbus, describing him as “the Sage,” who “taught mankind where future empires lay.” It is relevant both for its opinions on and depictions of the "discovery" of America, as well as for its position as a very traditional form of literature produced about the Caribbean subject. |
|
|
Truly a “heroic” poem in praise of the actions of British generals, and in particular, King George III, during the Seven Years’ War, this verse was written in consistent iambic pentameter over almost two hundred pages. One of the most interesting aspects of this poem is on its title page. An unapologetically pro-British poem, it was printed in Boston, for the author, by one “S. Adams." |
|
|
The only manuscript (i.e. not printed) item included on this website, this notebook of poems is a perfect example of why searching portions of the collection that might not seem related to Caribbeana can still prove fruitful. The small journal contains handwritten poems from several young North American women. One author in particular, however, seems to feel a connection to the Caribbean—presumably Deborah Pratt Ruff. Her older brother, whom she calls “Philander” sails to the Caribbean, and it is a subject to which she returns frequently. She addresses another poem to “Barbadoes Doves,” and several works to a Jamaican female poet for whom she clearly has a great deal of admiration. |