OBSCURE POET-ROBERT HAYDEN

 

Robert Hayden (1913-1980)

First black U S Poet Laureate

First black professor in the English department at the University of Michigan

He never embraced black separation, because of his Baha'i faith, and believed in the unity of humanity.

W.H. Auden, Langston Hughes, Elinor Wylie, and Paul Laurence Dunbar were some of his influences

NOTABLE WORKS

Selected Poems

Words In The Mourning Time

The Lion and The Archer

Angle of Ascent

Robert Hayden is more known now than he was during his lifetime. He was a victim of the discrimination, prejudice, and conventions of the writing of times that were popular. Like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Jack Kerouac, I embraced Hayden because he defied convention. 

Hayden was dismissed by militant black authors because he didn't embrace their philosophy. He wanted to be known as a poet, not just a black poet. I can understand his feelings because I believe the same way.