James Edwin Campbell Biography
James Edwin Campbell (1867–1896) was an African American poet, editor, short story writer and educator. He was born in 1867 in Pomeroy, Ohio, and died there in 1896.
According to James Weldon Johnson, there is little known about his early life, which he kept shielded even from his closest associates. He attended public schools in Pomeroy and spent time at Miami College and wrote regularly for daily newspapers in Chicago in the 1880s and 1890s. Campbell participated in a group publication, the Four O'Clock Magazine, a literary magazine that was quite popular for a time. He is best known for his work Echoes from the Cabin and Elsewhere, a volume of poetry. His poems are written in the dialect of his subjects, or the vernacular of the time, as well as standard English.
I see thy smile; at times, May's warm, young sun,
At times, December's cold and threat'ning sky;
Thy woman's hand aplucking at thy sword,
...
I wus a settin' by my winder
Lookin' out the other day,
On the Airth all white with snowdrifts -
Look you ever which-a-way;
...
Ur ol' Hyar lib in ur house on de hill,
He hunner yurs ol' an' nebber wuz ill;
He yurs dee so long an' he eyes so beeg,
...
O chillen run, de Cunjah man,
Him mouf ez beeg ez fryin' pan,
Him yurs am small, him eyes am raid,
Him hab no toof een him ol' haid,
...
Into the soil a seed is sown,
Out of the soul a song is wrung,
Out of the shell a pearl is gone,
Out of the cage a bird is flown,
...
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