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In the Language of My Captor
Winner of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry (2017)
Acclaimed poet Shane McCrae's latest collection is a book about freedom told through stories of captivity. Historical persona poems and a prose memoir at the center of the book address the illusory freedom of both black and white Americans. In the book's three sequences, McCrae explores the role mass entertainment plays in oppression, he confronts the myth that freedom can be based upon the power to dominate others, and, in poems about the mixed-race child adopted by Jefferson Davis in the last year of the Civil War, he interrogates the infrequently examined connections between racism and love. A reader's companion is available at wesleyan.edu/wespress/readerscompanions.
Acclaimed poet Shane McCrae's latest collection is a book about freedom told through stories of captivity. Historical persona poems and a prose memoir at the center of the book address the illusory freedom of both black and white Americans. In the book's three sequences, McCrae explores the role mass entertainment plays in oppression, he confronts the myth that freedom can be based upon the power to dominate others, and, in poems about the mixed-race child adopted by Jefferson Davis in the last year of the Civil War, he interrogates the infrequently examined connections between racism and love. A reader's companion is available at wesleyan.edu/wespress/readerscompanions.
108 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
August 30, 2017
I can't think of a more relevant book of poetry. Shane McCrae masterfully places us in a circle of oppression and then asks us where we will run when that circle closes in on us. It is only by this exercise that we learn to understand the language he so aptly translates for us.
July 30, 2022
It is unbelievable to me how someone can look at any person who may have a different skin color and treat that person as lesser to a point that this person can be taken into slavery and degradation.
Shane McCrae creates a series of poems that made me wonder about the above. Not that it wasn't in my mind before, it was indeed, for as long as I can remember. His poetry just brought one more brick into this constant questioning. Aren't we all humans regardless of skin color, sex, sexual orientation, place of origin, etc? Are white people so down in self-esteem that they need to treat others as lesser in order to feel better or stronger or whatever?
While having another human as a captive, as the book title says, you deprive others of their feelings, language, culture, traditions, personal expression. You take away what defines that person. And even when that someone speaks, it is another language strange to his/her own, a language that can't express enough what goes inside.
Sarah Baartman was treated like an animal in a putrid puritanic Europe, and most probably white women like her did also exist in the old continent. But why did she have to be treated like an animal?
Ota Benga, a pygmy from Congo, was treated like an animal in a putrid puritanic America, and most probably there were white men with dwarfism. But why did he have to be put into a cage with monkeys?
In putrid puritanic Brazil and elsewhere, why were black men and women treated worse than animals to make their captors richer, while they perished in a very hard life?
This is not only the reality of centuries ago but many times happens around the world right now, in wealthy North America, Europe, Brazil, etc, where some are treated lesser, which only shows, to my eyes, that those who treat them like this, are the ones who shall be pitied. But pity there might not be.
Read Shane McCrae book! It is necessary and urgent!
Shane McCrae creates a series of poems that made me wonder about the above. Not that it wasn't in my mind before, it was indeed, for as long as I can remember. His poetry just brought one more brick into this constant questioning. Aren't we all humans regardless of skin color, sex, sexual orientation, place of origin, etc? Are white people so down in self-esteem that they need to treat others as lesser in order to feel better or stronger or whatever?
While having another human as a captive, as the book title says, you deprive others of their feelings, language, culture, traditions, personal expression. You take away what defines that person. And even when that someone speaks, it is another language strange to his/her own, a language that can't express enough what goes inside.
Sarah Baartman was treated like an animal in a putrid puritanic Europe, and most probably white women like her did also exist in the old continent. But why did she have to be treated like an animal?
Ota Benga, a pygmy from Congo, was treated like an animal in a putrid puritanic America, and most probably there were white men with dwarfism. But why did he have to be put into a cage with monkeys?
In putrid puritanic Brazil and elsewhere, why were black men and women treated worse than animals to make their captors richer, while they perished in a very hard life?
This is not only the reality of centuries ago but many times happens around the world right now, in wealthy North America, Europe, Brazil, etc, where some are treated lesser, which only shows, to my eyes, that those who treat them like this, are the ones who shall be pitied. But pity there might not be.
Read Shane McCrae book! It is necessary and urgent!
June 6, 2022
Angry and questioning. A poetry about race and identity. The lines are often broken as are the lives described, broken by race relations in this country which overwhelm identity issues. A dialogue of poems between Jefferson Davis and his adopted "mulatto" son. A series of poems about "Banjo Yes" named by a white boy, his own name taken from him. "Named for what our hunger made us do."
I couldn't stop reading, want to read again. Prose poems interspersed with more traditional ones. The story of a boy growing up in a hostile world. The poems would be sadder if they didn't vibrate with anger. Fully alive.
I couldn't stop reading, want to read again. Prose poems interspersed with more traditional ones. The story of a boy growing up in a hostile world. The poems would be sadder if they didn't vibrate with anger. Fully alive.
July 17, 2017
Overly abstracted repetitive language that distances readers while giving a sense of everything a captor's language means to a captive. A masterpiece of understanding.
November 8, 2017
Another great poetry collection from the National Book Award short list. The author uses carefully chosen language to help the reader see through the eyes of African-Americans and relate their experiences with white America. In one, we see through the eyes of a boy held as an exhibit in a zoo, in another an actor, etc. These are both heartbreaking and illuminating.
September 3, 2023
shane mccrae is one of the finest poets of the 21st century.
January 13, 2018
My apologies, Shane McCrae. But I just don’t understand your brand of wordsmithmanship.
There were moments of brilliance with “His God” and “Panopticon” and “Privacy” and “What Do You Know About Shame” in Book One. Book Two was dark, foreboding and disturbing, whereas Book Three just plain lost me. Hoping for resolution, understanding and solace in Book Four, regretfully, it did not come. Yes, “(hope)(lessness)” and parts of “Sunlight” were again brilliant. But this coda just got messy, sloppy, strung-out and completely missed the mark for me.
Three (3) stars is the best I could do because while it started out strong, this book of poetry fizzled out like a wet sparkler on the Fourth of July.
There were moments of brilliance with “His God” and “Panopticon” and “Privacy” and “What Do You Know About Shame” in Book One. Book Two was dark, foreboding and disturbing, whereas Book Three just plain lost me. Hoping for resolution, understanding and solace in Book Four, regretfully, it did not come. Yes, “(hope)(lessness)” and parts of “Sunlight” were again brilliant. But this coda just got messy, sloppy, strung-out and completely missed the mark for me.
Three (3) stars is the best I could do because while it started out strong, this book of poetry fizzled out like a wet sparkler on the Fourth of July.
December 5, 2018
Finished: 05.12.2018
Genre: poetry
Rating: A++++
Conclusion:
Finalist National Book Awards 2017 for Poetry
My Thoughts
Genre: poetry
Rating: A++++
Conclusion:
Finalist National Book Awards 2017 for Poetry
My Thoughts
January 5, 2020
Quotes I loved:
"But I have also learned / The keeper will not trust me / To understand / even what he has taught me" (7)
"And so at first I thought the white men / Were ghosts / one spoke my language / And said that he had spoken to my father / I did not fear them / I thought they had been / whitened by the sun / Like bones wandering / I thought I could / Help them / I thought they didn't / Know they were dead" (14)
"most of the neighborhood boys found similar magazines in their own homes--and in which we discovered, not images corresponding to any overwhelming desires we might have felt, but guides to the overwhelming desires encompassing us." (27)
& others. Got immersed, stopped taking notes.
"But I have also learned / The keeper will not trust me / To understand / even what he has taught me" (7)
"And so at first I thought the white men / Were ghosts / one spoke my language / And said that he had spoken to my father / I did not fear them / I thought they had been / whitened by the sun / Like bones wandering / I thought I could / Help them / I thought they didn't / Know they were dead" (14)
"most of the neighborhood boys found similar magazines in their own homes--and in which we discovered, not images corresponding to any overwhelming desires we might have felt, but guides to the overwhelming desires encompassing us." (27)
& others. Got immersed, stopped taking notes.
March 24, 2018
McCrae's collection is a powerful melding of personal reflection with historical imagination. He writes from his own experiences as a black man in America weaving in and out of historical positions. His most powerful works imagine the voice of a young mixed race boy adopted by Jefferson Davis and his wife shortly before the end of the Civil War. I was truly awed by this collection. McCrae is creative with his line breaks which made me really pay attention and revel in his words. Highly recommend to all but especially to anyone looking for historical explorations.
March 9, 2018
Jaw-dropping. Poignant. Heartbreaking. Beautiful. You need to read these poems. Right now.
November 7, 2017
READ IT.
June 30, 2018
Such a smart, layered collection of poetry. McCrae plays with form and the idea of language and power in this book. I keep coming back to the Privacy poems.
November 27, 2022
3.5/5 ⭐️
Interesting and sporadic collection of poetry. I found many of these poems to be interesting as they followed the overarching theme of blackness in America throughout history. However, sometimes it was hard to distinguish whose voice was being used. And it was skipping from one speaker to the next and then back to the previous one throughout the collections. This made it confusing initially going into the poems. This is more of a stylistic criticism but I am always an advocate for making works more cohesive and accessible. Some poems had a driving cadence which was easy to follow and entertaining. Some poems felt more like ramblings of thoughts and ideas. Those were harder to follow. I also did not understand the formatting of some of these poems. There were breaks in between words that normally would not have breaks in them drawing attention to phrases that have no meaning without further context. This confused me as a reader, I would take unnatural pauses while reading and it made the poem even more confusing to understand.
When all of those complaints are put aside, thesis a strong collection of poetry. I Found the connection between personal experiences and historical perspectives to be hard hitting. The language used expressed the true depth of the emotions in the poems. I really appreciated the poems in this collection.
Interesting and sporadic collection of poetry. I found many of these poems to be interesting as they followed the overarching theme of blackness in America throughout history. However, sometimes it was hard to distinguish whose voice was being used. And it was skipping from one speaker to the next and then back to the previous one throughout the collections. This made it confusing initially going into the poems. This is more of a stylistic criticism but I am always an advocate for making works more cohesive and accessible. Some poems had a driving cadence which was easy to follow and entertaining. Some poems felt more like ramblings of thoughts and ideas. Those were harder to follow. I also did not understand the formatting of some of these poems. There were breaks in between words that normally would not have breaks in them drawing attention to phrases that have no meaning without further context. This confused me as a reader, I would take unnatural pauses while reading and it made the poem even more confusing to understand.
When all of those complaints are put aside, thesis a strong collection of poetry. I Found the connection between personal experiences and historical perspectives to be hard hitting. The language used expressed the true depth of the emotions in the poems. I really appreciated the poems in this collection.
November 8, 2019
4,5 stars
January 8, 2021
books like this make me love poetry, this was so good
February 11, 2025
I can't recall a more moving prose collection in recent times. To say I'd been left speechless would be an understatement...
April 12, 2019
Great collection of poetry - strong voice exploring the intra- and inter-personal complexities of racism.
from "In the Language"
from "In the Language"
I thought they had been
whitened by the sun / Like bones wandering
I thought I could / Help them
I thought they didn't
Know they were dead
March 14, 2018
Moving and Indomitable
The beauty in this collection, and in all the characters McCrae invokes, is that they help the hopelessly disconnected to relate to experiences they will never have and while they all must bow to survive, the refuse to be crushed or dominated.
The beauty in this collection, and in all the characters McCrae invokes, is that they help the hopelessly disconnected to relate to experiences they will never have and while they all must bow to survive, the refuse to be crushed or dominated.
August 18, 2024
It’s hard for me to review poetry because I always feel like I need to study it to truly appreciate the craft. I think this probably would have been 5 star if I had read it as part of a literature class. The 4 star is what I felt after reading it.
December 6, 2017
Wow. I loved this book. The words pop off the page. The poet (who we’ll meet on Thursday) tells a story of his life, our nation, faith and more in a way that reveals and describes our life, our lives. I loved this book. The first poems and the ending poems were my favorites. But I liked it all. Great stuff.
July 28, 2018
A 2017 collection of poems that center on the terrors of slavery,
captivity, and freedom. A substantial section of poems about the
mixed race Jim Limber, who was adopted by Varina Davis, wife of
Jefferson Davis. When the North won, he was sent away to try to find
a free life. Many are prose poems and deal with racism on many
levels. Important, compelling work.
captivity, and freedom. A substantial section of poems about the
mixed race Jim Limber, who was adopted by Varina Davis, wife of
Jefferson Davis. When the North won, he was sent away to try to find
a free life. Many are prose poems and deal with racism on many
levels. Important, compelling work.
November 25, 2017
The syntax and diction of this book is sneaky and alluring. It's as if the poems are straining against their pre-conceived forms, making a nice formal metaphor for the book's themes of captivity and freedom. Should have won the NBA
May 10, 2018
Where Eye Level: Poems was 5 stars for the masterful use of language, this collection is 5 stars for its masterful scene setting and last lines. Poignant.
April 13, 2018
Read this in one sitting. It is harsh and powerful and hits in the viscera -- where good poetry always lands. Should be required reading for Americans.
August 9, 2020
wow!!!! in some ways this collection is three stories intertwined. but it is also one story of a collective Black experience in the US. amazing!!!
January 20, 2025
“I saw a door, like the front door of a house, but deep and far in darkness.” Shane McCrae is fast becoming one of my favourite poets, so I’m reading whatever I can get my hands on, even if that means reading his books all out of order; In The Language Of My Captor, which precedes both The Gilded Auction Block and Sometimes I Never Suffered, contains many of the seeds of the two following collections. Its poems are heavy with god, with slavery and its hard legacy, with a pervasive eschatology and sense of a morally ambiguous afterlife. Its cast of characters, from God to Banjo Yes, also features Jim Limber, one of the two central figures in Sometimes I Never Suffered. From the collection’s first poem, McCrae begins his project of weaving together the themes that will define much of his work: “I tell the keeper they must be / The daughters and the sons of nearer gods // I tell him my gods had to stay behind / To watch my people / He likes it when I talk like that / the truth is I don’t know”. And the magnificent poem from which this collection derives its title is assertive, its voice in desperation to claim something as its own. Perhaps the most impressive is the long poem (beginning the overarching tripartite work mentioned in my earlier reviews), ‘Purgatory: A Memoir / A Son and a Father of Sons’, which concludes “in the one fire everywhere, after which there is no suffering, and so from which there is no relief.”
August 16, 2022
The style of this poetry just wasn’t for me. The best way I can describe it is needlessly convoluted. Why the extra spaces in the middle of a line? What’s with the // between seemingly random words? And the multiple uses of the same word back to back, to the point I thought there were typos? Maybe others will really enjoy this type of poetry writing, but I found it tedious and random. Maybe I’m wrong and this is poetry at its most creative, either way it wasn’t for me.
The themes of freedom, racism, violence, and the black experience in America were all things I found disturbing and interesting. However, for me the writing style detracted from the poems and their messages. I really wish I had loved this.
My favorite quote was actually from an article by the author in the Missouri Review about one of his poems, “The thing about the United States is that it could not withstand knowing about the United States”.
The erasure of “uncomfortable” history (slavery, genocide, etc) in the United States school curriculum and in the media is something I’ve come to recognize as a crazy systemic issue and I’m always looking to educate myself about the realities of our pasts and how it influences our lives today.
The themes of freedom, racism, violence, and the black experience in America were all things I found disturbing and interesting. However, for me the writing style detracted from the poems and their messages. I really wish I had loved this.
My favorite quote was actually from an article by the author in the Missouri Review about one of his poems, “The thing about the United States is that it could not withstand knowing about the United States”.
The erasure of “uncomfortable” history (slavery, genocide, etc) in the United States school curriculum and in the media is something I’ve come to recognize as a crazy systemic issue and I’m always looking to educate myself about the realities of our pasts and how it influences our lives today.
April 26, 2021
This book was incredible. I've only read the whole thing once through -- several of the poems I read upwards of five times, though; there are just so many layers.
The idea of double consciousness, of white gaze, of enacting/embodying whiteness as a POC (and in this book as a Black person specifically) has been bouncing around in my mind because of my research and my...life -- McCrae takes the minutest nuances and paints them together in these first person narrations from characters in impossibly different situations - but the themes beam through the writing.
The one dedicated to Tamir Rice made me want to hide my kid in a different language and a different time/space.
In any case... I will likely read this again and again throughout the years.
I don't know if I could teach it in a class...maybe -- says the n-word often and I don't want the students to think they can use it or that I can use it. The ideas are so important, though.
The idea of double consciousness, of white gaze, of enacting/embodying whiteness as a POC (and in this book as a Black person specifically) has been bouncing around in my mind because of my research and my...life -- McCrae takes the minutest nuances and paints them together in these first person narrations from characters in impossibly different situations - but the themes beam through the writing.
The one dedicated to Tamir Rice made me want to hide my kid in a different language and a different time/space.
In any case... I will likely read this again and again throughout the years.
I don't know if I could teach it in a class...maybe -- says the n-word often and I don't want the students to think they can use it or that I can use it. The ideas are so important, though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews