...Ronald Dorris Copyright © 1993 by Duke University Press 1993 Theodicy of the Bacchic in the Poetry of Jean Toomer's Cane Ronald Dorris The Harlem Renaissance, or New Negro Movement, was an important historical moment for the creation and presentation of art by African Americans. It was during...

... the Auctioneers, Though hard the blood-hounds did pursue. Far in the south I was a slave Where Sugar-cane, and cotton grows; ~vly .\faster was a cruel knave, As every body may suppose. 32 The Journal of Black Sacred Music 12 My old master dont like me; I begged him so to set me freeHe swore before he'd let me go...

... mother bought that house as well as other property in Little Rock. This was a city comparable to other American cities of that era, with many fine homes, theatres and a thriving business section. Even so, it was not far removed from typical rural life: women in sunbonnets, farms, cane fields. About five...

..., and back to back-kept the city pulse so that New York could breathe. Indeed, the streets and the cabarets, from the house-rent parties to the Cotton and Sugar Cane clubs, were the locales from which Hughes drew his subject matter as he searched for the meaning and essence of the black experience. Wintz...

... you were three-fifths of a man! But Nat Turner was a preacher, Hated slavery worse than sin. Called his sword his Freedom Bible, Killed a hundred slavery men! Now Doctor DuBois went to Harvard, you know. He was hip to the ivy, so he purloined the show. He dressed like a diplomat, he sported a cane...

... flatted fifths from their toned brasses. Clubs bebopped when the city crowd-dancing, sweating, and back to back-kept the city pulse so that New York could breathe. Indeed, the streets and the cabarets, from the house-rent parties to the Cotton and Sugar Cane clubs, were the locales from which Hughes drew...

... that it is time to "go" (i.e., engage in petty criminal behavior), the scene changes to a street comer where a man with a cane is transacting a drug sale with another man. After the man with the cane completes the sale, Darryl and his friends are seen leaning against a car, regarding him in cautious silence...

... country. Negroes refer to the Louisiana lowlands as "cane bottoms" and "sugar bottoms," and the rich soil of the Mississippi lowlands around the Delta is referred to as the "black bottoms Negroes living here had a wonderful opportunity to develop their own dances as well as other folklore. The region...

... come sweet Miss Sally Brown, Folks all watchin' her pass by, She's sweeter den de sugar cane, An' better den peach pie. Chorus Shoo 'long, Sally Brown, Da, da, da, de o, Shoo 'long, Sally Brown, Da, da, da, de o. Sally Brown &# ~II ! ); ., ~CHORUS ., Shoo 'long, Dance Song Sal-ly Brown, _ Da, da, da...

..., and those who have waited, but now are ready, are colored" Americans who have advanced significantly from the days of the jungle and the cane fields. We've added modern ways to ancestral lore; We've worked to prepare ourselves to be wise, to prove our worth. The black speakers in the poem...