Sonnet

James Weldon Johnson is perhaps best remembered as a Civil Rights leader in early 20th-century America, during which he was also one of the preeminent Black literary voices. “Sonnet” is one of Johnson’s earlier poems and was published while the poet was in his early twenties and still attending Atlanta University.

Though much of Johnson’s literary output is associated with the Harlem Renaissance, “Sonnet” (1883) was written before he moved to New York and became involved in that artistic movement. The poem, like much of Johnson’s earlier work, shares many of the concerns and themes of the Harlem-based literary movement. In particular, the poem’s emphasis on the contemporary Black experience makes it sympathetic with many works that were produced in Harlem during the early 20th century. “Sonnet,” as the name implies, also looks backward: The poem borrows the form of a traditional Shakespearean sonnet and is steeped in the Western literary tradition.

Poet Biography

James Weldon Johnson was born June 17, 1871, in Jacksonville, Florida. Johnson and his brother John Rosamond grew up in Florida. Johnson’s mother taught at the segregated Stanton School, which Johnson attended until the eighth grade, and his mother encouraged his early interest in literature. At the time, the Johnson parents’ education and economic security were uncommon among Southern Black families. Due to segregation laws, Johnson had to leave home to attend high school and college at Atlanta University. He graduated from Atlanta with a Bachelor of Arts in 1894.

Questions about race were hotly debated when Johnson went to college, and it was during this time that his eyes opened to the problem of race in the United States. The struggles of Black people in America became one of the major themes in his poetry, including 1893’s “Sonnet.” Johnson later studied law and, in 1898, became the first Black lawyer in Florida since the Reconstruction era—the post-Civil-War era involving the fraught reintegration of the Confederacy (and millions of emancipated people) into the States.

In 1901, Johnson and his brother John moved to New York City to focus on artistic and musical endeavors. The brothers wrote songs together and found moderate success on Broadway. During this time, Johnson also attended Columbia University, where he studied creative literature. Johnson married Grace Nail in 1910, whom he met while working as a songwriter. He also became more politically active and was eventually appointed as a United States consul under President Roosevelt. Nail frequently collaborated with Johnson on artistic and political projects. Johnson started working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1917 and became the organization’s leader in 1920.

The 1920s saw Johnson turn his attention back to creative writing. Johnson became involved in the Harlem Renaissance, a flourishing of art and literature in Harlem, New York. He contributed to this movement through his own poetry and the compilation of poetic anthologies, and through this contribution, Johnson became a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance. He died on June 26, 1938, at the age of 67, after a train struck his car in Wiscasset, Maine. His Harlem funeral was attended by over 2,000 mourners.

Poem Text

My heart be brave, and do not falter so,  

Nor utter more that deep, despairing wail.

Thy way is very dark and drear I know,  

But do not let thy strength and courage fail;  

For certain as the raven-winged night

Is followed by the bright and blushing morn,  

Thy coming morrow will be clear and bright;  

’Tis darkest when the night is furthest worn.

Look up, and out, beyond, surrounding clouds,  

And do not in thine own gross darkness grope,  

Rise up, and casting off thy hind’ring shrouds,  

Cling thou to this, and ever inspiring hope:

  Tho’ thick the battle and tho’ fierce the fight,

  There is a power making for the right.

Johnson, James Weldon. “Sonnet.” 1893. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

James Weldon Johnson’s “Sonnet” opens with the poem’s speaker consoling his heart in an attempt to stabilize his emotions. He begin by telling his heart—later revealed to have been uttering a “deep, despairing wail” (Line 2)—to “be brave” and “not to falter so” (Line 1). The speaker continues this consolatory tone in the next two lines by acknowledging that the heart’s “way is dark and drear” and reaffirming that it should “not let thy strength and courage fail” (Lines 3-4).

The next four lines describe the “dark and drear” way that the heart takes. First, it is associated with the “raven-winged night” (Line 5). Despite how “certain” the night is, the speaker asserts that night is always followed by day and that the “coming morrow will be clear and bright” (Line 7). The speaker then instructs his heart to “look up [and] beyond, the surrounding clouds” and to “grope” outside of their “own gross darkness” (Lines 9-10). Then, by casting off the “hind’ring shrouds” that have weighed down and limited the heart, the speaker claims that the heart will be once again able to “cling” on to an “ever inspiring hope” (Lines 11-12).

The speaker then ends the poem by presenting this promised hope in the sonnet’s final rhyming couplet: “[T]here is a power making for the right”(Line 14), but “the battle” (Line 13) to accomplish this hope will be “thick” (Line 13) and “fierce” (Line 13).