Although it contains some new poems, Angle of
Ascent (1975) gathers Hayden’s best work from
previous volumes.
American Journal (1978, 1982), Hayden’s last
book, evidences Hayden’s desire that his read-
ers enter the worlds of the marginalized. “The
Rag Man” treats a homeless person’s existence,
and “The Prisoners” recounts Hayden’s visit to
a penitentiary to give a reading. “A Letter from
Phillis Wheatley” and “John Brown” continue
Hayden’s interest in portraying historical figures.
The persona of “the stranger” finds its apotheo-
sis in “American Journal,” a movingly hopeful yet
tough-minded assessment of the United States.
A visitor from outer space, the speaker uses
disguises, including the earthlings’ “varied pig-
mentations,” secretly to observe “the americans,”
whom the visitor describes as “this baffling /
multi people” (7, 1–2). Though the visitor’s “skill
in mimicry is impeccable,” he concludes that
among America’s diverse individuals “some con-
stant” remains that “defies analysis and imitation”
and that the visitor “cannot penetrate or name”
(94, 96, 97, 115).
Besides the Dakar prize, Hayden won two
Hopwood Awards (1938, 1942), the Detroit May-
or’s Bronze Medal (1969), and the Russell Loines
Award (1970); he was inducted into the American
Academy (1979). Hayden served as the Library of
Congress’s Consultant in Poetry (1976–78). Per-
haps best known for his poems on African-Amer-
ican history, Hayden also contributed fine poems
reflecting on poetic art and on universal themes
of spirituality, mortality, and human destiny. His
work deeply influenced two important African-
American poets in particular: MICHAEL S. HARPER
and JAY WRIGHT.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fetrow, Fred M. Robert Hayden. Boston: Twayne Pub-
lishers, 1984.
Friedlander, Benjamin. “Robert Hayden’s Epic of
Community.” MELUS 23, no. 3 (1998): 129–143.
Goldstein, Laurence, and Robert Chrisman, eds. Rob-
ert Hayden: Essays on the Poetry. Ann Arbor: Uni-
versity of Michigan Press, 2001.
Hatcher, John. From the Auroral Darkness: The Life
and Poetry of Robert Hayden. Oxford: George
Ronald, 1984.
Robert S. OventileHemphill, Essex C. (1957–1995)
Renowned poet, essayist, editor, and activist Essex
C. Hemphill was born in Chicago, Illinois, in
1957; he grew up in Anderson, Indiana; Colum-
bia, South Carolina; and southeast Washington,
D.C. The second of five children, Hemphill began
writing at age 14. After graduating from Washing-
ton, D.C.’s Ballou High School, Hemphill studied
English and journalism at the University of Mary-
land before completing a degree in English at
the University of the District of Columbia. Soon
thereafter, Hemphill became involved in various
writing collectives on the East Coast. In 1980, he
publicly proclaimed his gay identity during a po-
etry reading at the Founders Library at Howard
University. From the mid-1980s until his death,
Hemphill became perhaps the most well-known
black gay male writer in the United States since
JAMES BALDWIN.
Although initially influenced by the BLACK NA-
TIONALIST ideology of the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT,
Hemphill eventually distanced himself from what
he came to see as its narrow political perspective
and spectrum. In the end, this ideology did not
address issues that concerned him, specifically the
black gay man’s exclusion from the collective Af-
rican-American community. Hemphill was most
interested in exploring in his poetry such difficult
subjects as estrangement, racism, isolation, ho-
mophobia, denial, and fear. For example, in his
poem “Commitments,” Hemphill says poignantly
of his family photos,My arms are empty...
so empty they would break
around a lover...
I am the invisible son...
I smile as I serve my duty. (Brother to
Brother, 58)240 Hemphill, Essex C.