First Poems (Caribbean Modern Classics)

First published in 1945, this compilation features the work of Jamaican poet George Campbell. Perceptive and inspirational, these poems consider the events that marked the nationalist struggle for Jamaican independence, such as the imprisonment of militants by British colonial authorities, the appalling social conditions that drove the masses to revolt, and the desperate poverty of the black majority. Honoring martyred heroes of the Jamaican struggle against slavery and colonialism, Campbell writes about the hopes and consolations to be derived from religious faith, but a faith in which Jesus and Lenin were not necessarily incompatible icons. Other, more personal topics, such as love and its ecstasies and bitter disappointments and Jamaica’s natural beauty are also celebrated.