Two Writers Sharing: Sterling A. Brown, Robert Frost, and “In Divés’ Dive”

Abstract

Abstract In the recent proliferation of conference papers, critical articles, and books discussing the pioneering innovation and enduring significance of Sterling A.Brown’s poetry, literary critics and historians have enthusiastically shown a propensity toward tracing the resonance of “influence” in his work. The persistence of this practice can hardly be faulted because, starting in the early 1960s, Brown began explicating himself to younger generations whom he felt were unacquainted with his seminal efforts to define the distinctiveness of African American literature and culture. In numerous formal and informal interviews, poetry readings, and public lectures, Brown professed an indebted- ness to precursing and contemporary writers, including English poets (Ernest Dowson, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman).