Many of us read Vachel Lindsay in school--at least until he was removed from the anthologies. Few of us have heard the recordings of Lindsay performing--not just reading, but truly performing--his poems, "The Congo" most (in)famously. So we PoemTalkers decided to try our hand at the first section of Lindsay's most well-known poem. Al suggests that readers and listeners must attempt to "get past" the obvious racism (even of the opening lines), but Aldon Nielsen takes exception to that formulation, and off we go, exploring the problem and possibilities of this poet's foray--Afrophilic but nonetheless stereotype-burdened--into African sound and, more generally, the performativity of a culture.
Charles Bernstein finds this "one of the most interesting poems to teach," and adds: "[Lindsay] felt there was something deeply wrong with white culture, that it was hung up, ... that it was disembodied, that it was too abstract." All the problems of the poem, Charles notes, remain present when one reads or hears it. It's all there. It's not a "bad example" of something; it makes its own way (or loses its way) in the modern poetic tradition, as it is.

Aldon doesn't want to "get past" the tension between Lindsay's desire to make a progressive statement and the racist content in the poem; as a whole, this work creates a tension that is "absolutely at the core of American culture." Aldon is hesitant to use the phrase "teachable moment" (which during 2009 has been a phrase that is dulled from facile overuse in the "ongoing conversation" about race) but that--teachability--is about the sum of it: to teach this poem is to gain access to a central American discussion.

Lindsay's 1931 reading of "The Congo"--all three parts--is available on our Vachel Lindsay PennSound page. Be sure to have a listen to them, and also to one of our favorites, "The Mysterious Cat". It's 57 seconds of vintage Vachel performance--very nearly a sound poem. Here's a link to the text of the first section of "The Congo."
We at PoemTalk and PennSound are grateful to Nicholas Cave Lindsay, who has, through the Estate of Vachel Lindsay, given us permission to make recordings of the poet available to everyone for free.
13 comments:
On the popularity of Vachel Lindsay and the appeal of "The Congo" for Chicago's literati as well as the people of Wilkes-Barre:
http://mikechasar.blogspot.com/2008_08_31_archive.html
As always an excellent posting.The
way you write is awesome.Thanks. Adding more information will be more useful.
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Never thought I'd want to revisit Vachel Linday.. found this wonderfully liberating!
thank you thank you!
Thank you so much for three wonderful & supportive comments! Jacob, we at PoemTalk are really glad you'll be giving Lindsay another shot.--Al
Here in Lindsay's home town, Springfield, Illinois, the city of the poet's "illimitable dreams" and the city of his discontent, we are truly excited to see our favorite poet reconsidered and so well understood. Thank you!
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I did read Vachel Lindsay in school, high school and college as well and I never got tired of reading his work. I even have some books at home. The poetry I'm reading now is from a Russian guy called Sildenafil and his poetry is amazing
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Very interesting, I've been researching Vachel and his The Congo poem for a while, and this definitely brought up interesting arguments.
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