ORIGINAL AFRICAN AMERICAN SIGNED POET BOOK great quote OWEN DODSON AUTOGRAPH A

Description: POWERFUL LONG LADDER. Dodson, Owen Signed By AuthorVery Good in Good dust jacket - Inscribed and signed by author, on endpaper: "Dear Greg, "The apple tree the singing and the, gold ---" yes. , Owen July, 1978". Edgeworn and yellowed DJ, with foxing to the inside.Owen Vincent Dodson was an American poet, novelist, and playwright. He was one of the leading African-American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets following the Harlem Renaissance. Owen Dodson, in full Owen Vincent Dodson, (born Nov. 28, 1914, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died June 21, 1983, New York, N.Y.), African-American poet, teacher, director, and playwright and a leading figure in black theatre. Born: November 28, 1914 New York City New YorkDied: June 21, 1983 (aged 68) New York City New YorkThe son of a journalist, Dodson began writing poetry and directing plays while attending Bates College (B.A., 1936) and Yale University (M.F.A., 1939). As a U.S. Navy enlistee during World War II, he wrote naval history plays for black seamen, the verse chorale The Ballad of Dorrie Miller, about an African-American navy hero (1943), and the poem “Black Mother, Praying,” a plea for racial integration. Dodson’s black history pageant New World A-Coming was performed at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1944. His first poetry collection, Powerful Long Ladder, appeared in 1946 and was widely praised. The next year he began teaching at Howard University, where he remained until 1979; playwright Amiri Baraka and actor Ossie Davis were among his most noted students. Dodson wrote the novels Boy at the Window (1951) and Come Home Early, Child (1977) and 37 plays and opera libretti; his verse dramas Divine Comedy (1938) and Bayou Legend (1948) are especially notable. By Dodson’s own account, his best work was The Confession Stone (1970), a song cycle written in the voice of Mary about the life of her son, Jesus; the piece is often performed as an Easter play. This is a dream without sleep. A Lazarus miracle without tombs. We are the miracle. We are the earth itself!-Divine Comedy (Act II) These lines come from one of Owen Dodson's miraculous productions. Dodson was considered "one of the most influential directors in the black academic theatre from the 1940's to the 1970's." He was born in 1914 in Brooklyn, New York. In 1936, he received a B.A. from Bates College, where he also was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1967. In 1939, he received a B.F.A. in playwriting and directing from Yale University. Dodson was a poet, novelist, playwright, teacher, and theatrical director. From 1940-1970, he was a professor of drama and chairman of the department at Howard University. Throughout his career, he wrote several books of poetry, such as Powerful Long Ladder (1940), The Confession Stone (1970), and The Harlem Book of the Dead (1981). He continued to demonstrate his talent when he wrote two novels, Boy at the Window (1951) and Come Home Early, Child (1971). Besides writing poetry and fiction, he wrote more than 30 plays, operas, and other works for the theatre. In addition, nine years before it was presented on Broadway, Dodson directed the premiere production of James Baldwin's Amen Corner (1935).The Howard University Players and the Howard University Drama Department produced some of Dodson's works, such as Bayou Legend, which is a poetic African-American version of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, set in Louisiana's bayou (1948); Medea in Africa, which is an African-American interpretation of Euripides' play, set in Africa (1959); and The Story of Soul (1978). For the centennial celebration at Howard, Dodson wrote Till Victory Is Won, which was performed at Howard in April 1965. This was a musical that traced the black man's history from Africa to the present.Dodson received many awards throughout his career before he died in 1983. For example, he was the recipient of a Rosenwald Fellowship (1944-45), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1953-54), and a Rockefeller Grant (1969-70). Dodson made a miraculous contribution to theater and the Drama Department of Howard University while he was alive, and he is still being recognized for his great works today. Owen Dodson Owen DodsonOwen Dodson was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1914. He is the author of three poetry collections: Powerful Long Ladder (1940), The Confession Stone: Song Cycles (1970), and The Harlem Book of the Dead (1978). He also wrote more than 35 plays and opera libretti, as well as two novels, Boy at the Window (1951) and Come Home Early, Child (1967). Dodson was a professor at Spelman College, Atlanta University, and finally at Howard University, where he served as the chair of the drama department for three decades. He died in 1983. Owen Dodson, a poet, novelist, playwright and teacher whose 20 years as a professor of drama at Howard University influenced the course of African-American drama, died of a heart attack yesterday. He was 68 years old and lived on Manhattan's West Side. Mr. Dodson wrote the novels ''Come Home Early, Child,'' (Popular Library) and ''Boy at the Window'' (Farrar, Straus & Young) and a book of poetry, ''Powerful Long Ladder.'' His plays, ''Divine Comedy,'' ''Garden of Time,'' and ''Bayou Legend,'' among others, were more akin to poetic dramas than to plays. His short story ''The Summer Five'' won a Paris Review award. Jeff Newman, chairman of the department of drama at Howard University, said yesterday that Mr. Dodson, who was a faculty member at Howard for 20 years, had ''tremendous impact on black theater.'' ''There were not many professionals in the business who did not come through him,'' Mr. Newman said. He cited Debbie Allen, Richard Wesley, Roxie Roker, Charles Brown and Amiri Baraka as some of the younger persons who sat in on Mr. Dodson's classes in theater history, directing, playwrighting and criticism. Earle Hyman, the actor, was Mr. Dodson's protege. Winner of Fellowships Mr. Dodson had also taught at Atlanta University and Hampton Institute and was awarded Rosenwald and Guggenheim Fellowships. Mr. Dodson sought to link the professional stage to his campus. He attracted, among others, Vivien Leigh, Sir John Gielgud and Sidney Poitier to the Howard classroom. And he took the Howard University Players to 14 cities in Europe in 1949. They presented 54 performances of Ibsen and DuBose Heyward in sold-out houses on what was said to be the first State Department-sponsored European tour by a black theater troupe. Mr. Dodson also tried to tie the community, the theater professional and the educator together. In 1964 he was an advisory board member for the Harlem School of the Arts Community Theater. Mr. Dodson was born in Brooklyn Nov. 28, 1914. He received a bachelor's degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Me., and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University. There were no immediate survivors. Owen Dodson *Owen Dodson was born on this date in 1914. He was a Black poet, writer, teacher, director, and playwright. From Brooklyn, N.Y., Owen Vincent Dodson was the son of a journalist; Dodson began writing poetry and directing plays while attending Bates College where earned a B.A. degree in 1936, and Yale University where he received his M.F.A. in 1939. As a U.S. Navy enlistee during World War II, he wrote naval history plays for Black seamen, the verse chorale… a leading figure in the Black theater. They included The Ballad of Dorie Miller and the poem “Black Mother, Praying,” a plea for racial integration. Dodson’s Black History Pageant New World A-Coming was performed at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1944. His first poetry collection, Powerful Long Ladder, appeared in 1946 and was widely praised. The next year he began teaching at Howard University, where he remained until 1979; playwright Amiri Baraka and actor Ossie Davis were among his most noted students. Dodson wrote the novels Boy at the Window (1951) and Come Home Early, Child (1977) and 37 plays and opera libretti; his verse dramas Divine Comedy (1938) and Bayou Legend (1948) are especially notable. By Dodson’s own account, his best work was The Confession Stone (1970), a song cycle written in the voice of Mary about the life of her son, Jesus; the piece is often performed as an Easter play. Owen Dodson died June 21, 1983, in New York, N.Y. Owen Dodson (November 28, 1914—June 21, 1983) was chair of the Drama Department at Howard University from 1940 to 1970. His three books of poems are Powerful Long Ladder (1940), The Confession Stone: Song Cycles (1970), and The Harlem Book of the Dead (1978). His two novels are Boy at the Window (1951) and Come Home Early Child (1977). Dodson wrote over 30 plays, operas, and works for theater, including Divine Comedy (1938), The Garden Time (1939), Bayou Legend (1948), Medea in Africa (1959), The Confession Stone (1960), and Till Victory is Won (1965). During an appearance on a panel last Saturday at the Schomburg Center, I noticed a photo of Owen Dodson on the wall in the place where the American Negro Theater was prominent for Black actors 75 years ago. Dodson’s photo is there because one of his plays, “Garden of Time,” based on the myth of Medea and Jason, was produced there in 1945. At that time, Dodson, who was born Nov. 28, 1914, in Brooklyn, N.Y., was 30 and in the prime of a long and productive career as a playwright, poet, director and teacher. Dodson’s proclivity to the literary sphere was fairly predictable because his father, Nathaniel, was an acclaimed journalist. Years before he began studying at Bates College in Maine, Dodson had already begun cultivating a love for words. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates, he attended Yale University, where he was awarded his MFA in 1939. As a graduate student at Yale, he wrote and produced “Divine Comedy,” which told the story of Father Divine, the spiritual leader who commanded a large following during the Great Depression. Dodson, though a pacifist, joined the Navy during World War II, leaving his teaching post at Spelman College, and continued to develop his urge for creative writing by producing history plays for African-American seamen. His verse chorale, “The Ballad of Dorie Miller,” about a Black naval hero during World War II, was among these productions. In 1943, he was also writing historical poetry, including his poem “Black Mother, Praying,” mainly a plea to end racial segregation. Black history continued to be an inspirational theme in 1944, when his pageant “New World A-Coming” was performed at Madison Square Garden, which has the same title as Roi Ottley’s book chronicling the era, published a year before. The performance was highly successful and even praised by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. No longer in the service after a two-year stint, Dodson published his first collection of poetry, “Powerful Long Ladder,” in 1946, to good notices. A year later, he began teaching at Howard University, a position he would hold until 1967. Among his more celebrated students were Debbie Allen, Earle Hyman, Roxy Roker, Amiri Baraka and Ossie Davis. Davis recalled in his autobiography that he had attempted to present Dodson’s “Confession Stone” (1970), about the life of Jesus, but was unable “to get it off the ground” and find the necessary funding. In his autobiography, Baraka doesn’t cite Dodson directly but does offer a dismissal of the Howard Players at that time. Indirectly, Baraka does note that after reading Ottley’s book and possibly knowing of Dodson’s play, he changed his name from Leroy to LeRoi. Much more intimate are the reflections of the actor Gordon Heath (1918-1991) in his memoir “Deep Are the Roots,” who wrote that Dodson “was a parent, adviser, teacher and director. He was acquisitive and I was part of his collection.” This may have been Heath’s allusion to being gay. Others, such as writer Hilton Als, will also cite being Dodson’s lovers. The success of his pageant at Madison Square Garden caught the attention of an organization that sought his influence on changing the stereotypical portrayal of Blacks in Hollywood. “Child, I went to Hollywood and met them all, the top writers,” he told his biographer James V. Hatch. “But they didn’t pick up our cause because there were so many things going on in the government—Joseph McCarthy—and they were afraid. In my time I was a very eloquent and good-looking young man. I should have had rays to pull them into our cause. But the commercial world had sucked them in, and they would not let their careers go away with a Black cause, even though they believed in the whole damn thing.” Dodson experienced a kind of silent indifference on the poetic front, failing to command the attention possessed by some of the other leading poets of the day, including Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks and Detroit’s Dudley Randall. Things improved dramatically later when he was offered an associate professorship at Howard University. Here was a place where his plays found comfort and presentation, especially under the guidance of Anne Cooke’s department. It was during this tenure that he gained respect among a coterie of emerging actors and activists during a period when the Black Arts Movement was in ascendance. Even before the arrival of the political intensity, Dodson was at the center of discussion when he took a troupe of performers from Howard University on a European tour to showcase the school’s talent. But the tour was the least of his concerns; his homosexuality had become a distraction, hindering his work and his reputation. A mounting number of homophobic articles and insinuations exacerbated the gossip about him, and some say that was the cause of his alcoholism. In 1967, after taking a sabbatical to deal with his addiction, he was forced to retire from Howard, though he continued to deliver lectures, conduct readings and occasional directing assignments. He died June 21, 1983, of heart failure in New York City; he was a lonely and dispirited artist, which he shouldn’t have been given his achievements. Dodson’s legacy was given a fresh turn in the 1990s, when poets, playwrights and, most rewardingly, scholars began to reassess his work. His memory was recalled vividly by Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) in his autobiography, which was completed by his friend and associate Dr. Michael Thelwell of Amherst University. Along with classicist Frank Snowden, there was the “irrepressible poet-dramatist Owen Dodson, director for the Ira Aldridge Theatre, who regularly produced Black playwrights and liked to transpose classical Greek playwrights into African contexts,” Ture wrote. Esteemed sociologist E. Franklyn Frazier, writer Toni Morrison, historian William Leo Hansberry, law professor Charles Hamilton Houston and the inimitable folklorist and professor of English Sterling Brown were among the scholarly pantheon at Howard University sharing the limelight with Dodson. It was not only the Greek plays that were transposed by his genius, Dodson also delved deeply into the African and African-American experience to give those cultures their place in the annals of humanity. Owen Dodson was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was educated in the public schools in that borough. Dodson’s poetry is rich in style, imagery, and passion. He began writing at a very young age and in 1946 a collection of his poems were published. He attended Bates College and Yale University and received a Master of Fine Arts degree. He taught at Spelman College and Howard University. He was Poet-in-residence at the University of Arizona. Dodson also served as the Head of the Department of Drama at Howard University. As a graduate student at Yale, Dodson wrote and produced “Divine Comedy,” which told the story of Father Divine, the spiritual leader who commanded a large following during the Great Depression. Dodson, though a pacifist, joined the Navy during World War II, leaving his teaching post at Spelman College, and continued to develop his urge for creative writing by producing history plays for African-American seamen. Dodson’s poetry varied widely and covered a broad range of subjects, styles, and forms. He wrote at times, though rarely, in black dialect, and at others quoted and alluded to classical poetry and drama. Dodson died from cardiovascular disease at the age of 69. Poem for Pearl’s Dancersby Owen DodsonOn my back they’ve written history, Lord,On my back they’ve lashed out hell.My eyes run blood,The faces I see are blood,My toes can’t dig no deeper in the dirt. When my children get to reading, Lord,On my back they’ll read my tale.My lips taste blood,And in the soul’s they’re blood.My tongue can’t joy no future in this blood. When my children get to shouting, Lord,When my children get to standing straight,Lord, Lord, Lord,When that time come rolling down!!!! Owen Dodson was a poet, playwright, and director; he was also an influential teacher at Howard University and a leader in the African American theater community. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he wrote a verse play about an African American navy hero, The Ballad of Dorrie Miller (1943). The next year his African American history pageant New World A-Coming was performed at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in conjunction with the Negro Freedom Rally. His first collection of poems, Powerful Long Ladder, was published in 1946. The Owen Dodson Papers include correspondence with writers and editors, such as Langston Hughes, Margaret Anderson, and Ralph Ellison. The collection also includes manuscripts of many of Dodson’s important poems and plays, including New World A-Coming, Divine Comedy, and Bayou Legend. A detailed description of the collection is available on line: Owen Dodson Papers; additional uncataloged materials are described briefly in the the Library’s Uncataloged Acquisitions Database: Owen Dodson Papers Addition. Related manuscript collections in the Beinecke Library include: the Langston Hughes Papers; the James Weldon Johnson Correspondence Files; the Richard Wright Papers, and the Carl Van Vechten Correspondence Files. Additional materials relating to Owen Dodson may be found in the Library’s Finding Aid Database; recently acquired materials may be found by searching the Library’s Uncataloged Acquisitions Database. Books by Owen Dodson in the Yale University libraries can be located by searching Orbis, the library catalog. Owen Vincent Dodson (November 28, 1914 – June 21, 1983) was an American poet, novelist, and playwright. He was one of the leading African-American poets of his time, associated with the generation of black poets following the Harlem Renaissance.[1] Contents1Biography2Works3Papers4References5Further reading6External linksBiographyBorn in Brooklyn, New York, USA, Dodson studied at Bates College (B.A. 1936) and at the Yale School of Drama (M.F.A. 1939).[2] He taught at Howard University, where he was chair of the Drama Department, from 1940 to 1970, and briefly at Spelman College and Atlanta University.[3] James V. Hatch has explained that Dodson "is the product of two parallel forces—the Black experience in America with its folk and urban routes, and a classical humanistic education."[4] Dodson's poetry varied widely and covered a broad range of subjects, styles, and forms. He wrote at times, though rarely, in black dialect, and at others quoted and alluded to classical poetry and drama. He wrote about religion and about sexuality—he was gay, though he was briefly engaged to Priscilla Heath, a Bates classmate.[3] One critic describes him as "a brilliant, gay man who discovered his sexual preference early in life, but who was nevertheless unlucky and unhappy in several ill-fated relationships."[5] He was closely associated with poets W. H. Auden and William Stanley Braithwaite, but his influences were difficult to pin down. In an interview with Charles H. Rowell, he said: Well, every writer, at the beginning of his career, is influenced by somebody. Surely it's true that the ragtime rhythms of Langston Hughes and the order of Countee Cullen, his devotion to the church, have influenced me. But you know if you listen to Bach and then listen to the early Haydn you can see a cross between the two--you can see that Bach was influenced by Haydn. Then, if you listen to Haydn at his maturity and then listen to Beethoven, then you can see that Beethoven was influenced at the beginning of his career. And if you listen to the greatest Beethoven and then you listen to the early Brahms, you can see that the early Brahms was influenced by the later Beethoven. Then he became his own style. He got his own idea of life. You admire your father, and you imitate his gestures and his stance--the way he talks, the way he holds his glass, the way he kisses his wife. There is something about him that influences you. But then as you grow older, you begin to get your own style, your own class, your own idea of what is going on. Oh, yes, it's true that Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen influenced me.[6]In drama, he cited Henrik Ibsen as an influence, though again as an initial relationship later to be reworked and half-forgotten.[6] Dodson's two novels are generally considered to be autobiographical.[3] Dodson died in 1983 from cardiovascular disease at the age of 69. Dodson is one of the subjects of Hilton Als' 1996 book The Women; according to Als, Dodson was his mentor and lover.[1][7] WorksPoetry: Powerful Long Ladder (1940)The Confession Stone: Song Cycles (1970)Poems from The Confession Stone were set to music by composer Robert Fleming (1968).The Harlem Book of the Dead (1978). Collaboration with photographer James Van Der Zee and artist Camille Billops.Plays: Bayou LegendDivine ComedyTill Victory Is WonNew World A-ComingGarden of Time (1945)The Confession Stone (1960)Novels: Boy at the Window (1951)Come Home Early, Child (1967)PapersMoorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard UniversityCountee-Cullen-Harold Jackman Collection, Atlanta UniversityJames Weldon Johnson Collection, Yale UniversityHatch-Billops Collection, New York, New York.[8]

Price: 459.98 USD

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

End Time: 2025-01-16T18:14:24.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD