The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. W
hen Black poets are discussed separately as a group, for instance, the extent to which their work reflects the development of poetry in general should not be forgotten, or a distortion of literary history may result. This reminder is particularly relevant in an assessment of the differences between Black poets at the turn of last century (1900--1909) and those of the generation of the 1920s. These differences include the bolder and more forthright speech of the later generation and its technical inventiveness. It should be remembered, though, that comparable differences also existed for similar generations of White poets.
When poets of the 1910s and 1920s are considered together, however, the distinctions that literary historians might make between "conservative" and "experimental" would be of little significance in a discussion of Black poets, although these remain helpful classification for White poets of these decades. Certainly differences can be noted between "conservative" Black poets such as Countee Cullen, and Cluade McKay and "experimental" ones such as Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. But Black poets were not battling over old or new styles; rather, one accomplished Black poet was ready to welcome another, whatever his or her style, for what mattered was racial pride.
However, in the 1920s Black poets did debate with specifically racial subjects. They asked whether they should only write about Black experience for a Black audience or whether such demands were restrictive. It may be said, though, that virtually all those poets wrote their best poems when they spoke out of racial feeling, race being, as James Johnson rightly put it "inevitably the thing the Ne gro poet knows best" .
At the turn of the 20th century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner of the age and expressed noble, if vague, emotions in their poetry. These poets were not unusually gifted, though Roscoe Jamision and G.M. McClellen may be mentioned as exceptions. They chose not to write in dialect, which, as Sterling Brown has suggested, "meant a rejection of stereotypes of Nero life," and they refused to write only about racial subjects. This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. As Brown observes, Valuably insisting that Negro poets should not be confined to issues of race, these poets committed (an) error.., they refused to look into their hearts and write. "'These are important insights, but one must stress that this refusal to look within was also typical of most White poets of the United States at the time. They, too, often turned from their own experience and consequently produced not very memorable poems about vague topics, such as the peace of nature.
What is the author's attitude toward the classification as a technique in literary history？
A．Sarcastic.
B．Indifferent.
C．Cautious.
D．Critical.
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