The Heart of a Woman: And Other Poems

by Georgia Douglas Johnson

Excerpt from The Heart of a Woman: And Other Poems
The poems in this book are intensely femi nine and for me this means more than any thing else that they are deeply human. We are yet scarcely aware, in spite Of our boasted twentieth-century progress, of what lies deeply hidden, of mystery and passion, of domestic love and joy and sorrow, Of romantic visions and practical ambitions, in the heart of a woman. The emancipation of woman is yet to be wholly accomplished; though woman has stamped her image on every age of the world's history, and in the heart of almost every man since time began, it is only a little over half of a century since she has either spoke or acted with a sense of freedom. During this time she has made little more than a start to catch up with man in the wonderful things he has to his credit; and yet all that man has to his credit would scarcely have been achieved except for the devotion and love and inspiring comradeship of woman.

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Genres: Poetry, African American, Classics

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson, better known as Georgia Douglas Johnson, was an American poet, one of the earliest African-American female playwrights, and a member of the Harlem Renaissance.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[ZaRi]

The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.

The heart of a woman falls back with the night,
And enters some alien cage in its plight,
And tries to forget it has dreamed of the stars
While it breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars

[Kara Zone]

GDJ is Lovely

It's as if I could hear her voice in each poem. Her words are rich and dark and lovely. A must read.

[the moon]

I've officially found my favorite poet. Easily. I'm a sucker for allusions to nature, the human body, and religion. Rest in Peace & Power Mrs. Douglas Camp Johnson. You would've loved literally any song by Mitski.

[Em]

It's been a long time since I've read such nice poems.
Loved reading this book. The very last poem - "My Little Dreams" - is my favourite.

[Courtney]

Sad girl poetry time

[Julia (Shakespeare and Such)]

4.3/5 stars — I had previously read a poem of georgia douglas johnson in another collection, and I KNEW I was going to have to read more from her at some point. I’m not a big poetry girlie, but I’m so glad I dove back into her work. I love that her poems vacillate between optimism and darker moods, and the themes she picks of womanhood, youth/memory, death, etc are all so beautifully portrayed. I definitely discovered a few new faves.

Writing: 4/5
Enjoyment of subject/ideas: 5/5
Aesthetic: 4/5 (not really a fair category for a classic poetry collection so I’m giving it 4 for pure vibes)

[Courtney Hatch]

GDJ was one of the most read writers of the Harlem Renaissance. She is concise, direct, and powerful and an absolute pleasure to read.

[Muhammad]

A short book of short verse.

[Ursala]

I was disappointed in this collection. There were so many times when she stopped short of taking her poetry to the next level.