An African Elegy Summary
Robert Duncan

Everything you need to understand or teach An African Elegy by Robert Duncan.

An African Elegy Summary & Study Guide

An African Elegy Summary

"An African Elegy" is one of the most controversial poems that Duncan ever wrote. Editor John Crowe Ransom accepted the poem for publication in The Kenyon Review in 1942 calling it "very brilliant." However, after Duncan published his essay "The Homosexual in Society" in Dwight Mac- Donald's radical monthly Politics, "outing" himself and arguing (in part) that gay culture needed to see itself as more fully a part of mainstream society, Ransom changed his...

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Study Pack

The An African Elegy Study Pack contains:

An African Elegy Study Guide

Introduction

Author Biography

Poem Text

Plot Summary

Themes

Style

Historical Context

Critical Overview

Criticism

Critical Essay #1

Adaptations

Topics for Further Study

Robert Duncan Biographies (3)

Robert (Edward) Duncan

7,393 words, approx. 25 pages

Robert Duncan is one of the poets who helped to establish the San Francisco Bay area as one of the major centers for poetry in the United States, and in recent years he has become the presiding voice ... Read more

Robert (Edward) Duncan

6,728 words, approx. 23 pages

Although Robert Duncan figured prominently in the literary ferment of the mid-1950s in San Francisco, his literary career by no means begins or ends there. His relationship to the Bay Area writing sce... Read more

Robert (Edward) Duncan

9,795 words, approx. 33 pages

Robert Duncan's poetry established the San Francisco Bay area as a major center for poetry in the United States. There were other poets--Kenneth Rexroth, James Broughton, Jack Spicer, and Robin Blaser... Read more

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An African Elegy SummaryRobert Duncan