On every page [of Sterling Brown's "Southern Road"] there is "race," but it is "race" neither arrogant nor servile. There is pathos, infinite pathos; but everywhere there is dignity that respects itself. There is neither moaning nor sentimentalizing, but a frank facing of reality. Moreover, there is everywhere art; such a firm touch of artistry as is only seldom found among poets of whatever descent. Bitterness is not lacking; but it is the bitterness of all men, not merely of the Negro people, such bitterness as one will find voiced again and again from the earliest poetry of the Hebrews down to the present day….

Not a few of the many poems in this interesting and impressive collection are in dialect, but it is a carefully studied euphonic reproduction of pronunciations—there is no taint of music-hall convention. And there is also gayety here and there in the...