My soul's high song : the collected writings of Countee Cullen, voice of the Harlem Renaissance / edited and with an introduction by Gerald Early.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 607-618).

1. Introduction / A note about the collection --

2. From Color / Yet do I marvel -- A song of praise -- Brown boy to brown girl -- A brown girl dead -- To a brown girl -- Black magdalens -- Atlantic city water -- Tableau -- Simon the Cyrenian speaks -- Two crossed a line [she crosses] -- Two who crossed a line [he crosses] -- Incident -- Saturday's child -- Pagan prayer -- Wisdom cometh with the years -- Fruit of the flower -- The shroud of color -- Heritage - For a poet -- For my grandmother -- For a lady I know -- For an atheist -- For an evolutionist and his opponent -- For an anarchist -- For a pessimist -- For daughters of Magdalen -- For a mouthy woman -- For John Keats, Apostle of beauty -- For Paul Laurence Dunbar -- For Joseph Conrad -- For myself -- If you should go -- Spring Reminiscence -- She of the dancing feet sings -- Judas Isacariot -- The wise -- To John Keat, Poet. At spring time -- Song of praise -- Harsh would that lashest me -- Requiescam --

3. From Copper Sun / From the dark tower -- Threnody for a brown girl -- Uncle Jim -- Colored blues singer -- Colors -- The litany of the dark people -- Pity the deep in love -- One day we played a game -- Variations on a theme -- A song of sour grapes -- Lament -- The love tree -- The wind bloweth where it liseth -- Thoughts in a zoo -- Two thoughts of death -- Love's way -- In spite of death -- Cor cordium -- Lines to my father -- Protest -- An epitaph -- Youth sings a song of rosebuds -- Hunger -- More than a foll's song -- Advice to a beauty -- Ultimatum - At the wailing wall in Jerusalem -- To endyman -- Epilogue --

4. From the Black Christ and other poems / To the three for whom the book -- Tribute -- That bright chimeric beast -- To an unknown poet -- Little sonnet to little friends -- Mood -- Counter mood -- Minutely hurt -- The foolish heart -- For Helen Keller -- Not Sacco and Vanzetti -- Self criticism -- A thorn forever in the breast -- The proud heart -- Therefore, adieu -- At a parting -- Dictum -- Bright endings -- Black majesty -- Ghosts -- Song in spite of myself -- Nothing endures -- The street called crooked -- To certain critics -- The Black Christ --

5. From the Madea and some poems / After a visit -- Magnets -- Any human to another -- Only the polished skeleton -- To France -- Medusa -- Sonnet [1] -- Sonnet [2] -- Sonnet [3] -- To one not there -- Sonnet [4] -- Sonnet[5] -- Sonnet dialogue -- To France -- Death to the poor -- The cat -- Cats -- Scottsboro, too, is worth its song --

6. The Medea /

7. The ballad of the brown girl: an old ballad retold /

8. An uncollected poems / Dear friends and gentle hearts -- Karenge ya marenge -- Christus natus est -- Apostrophe to the land -- To the swimmer -- Life's rendezvous -- I have a rendezvous with a life -- La belle, la douche, la grande -- A negro mother's lullaby -- Lines for a hospital -- Judas Isacariot (first version) -- From life to love -- Night rain -- Singing in the rain -- The poet --

9. One way to heaven /

10. Essays and Speeches / The development of creative expression -- "The Dark Tower" column from Opportunity magazine, April 1928 -- The league of youth address -- Countee Cullen to his friends -- Countee Cullen on French courtesy -- Countee Cullen in England -- Countee Cullen on miscegenation --

Appendix / Prologue and epilogue for The Medea -- James Baldwin, "Rendez with Life: An Interview with Countee Cullen"

"This collection includes all the poems that make up 'On These I Stand' except the excerpts from the 'The Lost Zoo'. I felt that what Cullen felt to be his best and most representative work should be left intact. In addition, his translation of the 'Medea' is included... I have also included a few additional poems from each of Cullen's books, with the exception of 'The Medea and Some Poems', where I stuck to Cullen's selections exclusively. The additions were made because I felt either that the poems were good or that they helped to more fully elucidate Cullen's art. The section of uncollected poems includes all that Cullen had chosen for 'On These I Stand'... Other collected poems here are some of Cullen's earliest famous poems, 'To the Swimmer' and both versions of 'I Have a Rendezvous With Life'... In this way the reader can see how Cullen developed as a poet by seeing how he made revisions in his work...The complete texts of 'The Ballad of the Brown Girl' and 'One Way to Heaven' are included. Finally, there is a section of prose writing, including an essay by Cullen about his experiences as a teacher of creative writing which I think is particularly valuable in helping the reader understand how Cullen saw the enterprise of teaching. The other prose pieces are four travel pieces Cullen did for 'The Crisis' in 1929, a 'Dark Tower' column in which Cullen describes a trip to Talladega College in Alabama, and his 1923 League of Youth speech. There is a bit of sparse annotation here and there but nothing obtrusive or excessive. the works are meant to be read and enjoyed, not burdened with a lot of scholarly minutiae." -- From the ' A Note About the Collection'