19 pages • 38 minutes read
The Congo
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Blues in Stereo” by Langston Hughes (1961)
This late poem from Langston Hughes, for whom Lindsay advocated, also includes performance directions, font changes, and percussive rhythms. This poem also addresses colonialism and the Congo under King Leopold.
“General William Booth Enters Heaven” by Vachel Lindsay (1914)
In another poem intended primarily for performance, Lindsay memorializes General William Booth of the Salvation Army. Like “The Congo,” this poem includes performance and instrumentation directions. The poem also includes a chorus, the repeated line “Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” Lindsay pays tribute by using band instruments and a vocal chorus to create a simulation of Booth’s meeting style.
“The Tropics of New York” by Claude McKay (1922)
Key Harlem Renaissance figure Claude McKay describes a similar experience of transport with a radically different result. The speaker in McKay’s poem, like the speaker of “The Congo,” comes upon a contemporary urban scene and finds himself transported to another culture. McKay’s speaker feels reverence and longing, rather than fear and judgment.
“Flotsam” by Lola Ridge (1918)
Lola Ridge’s cinematic descriptions of the so-called “ghettos” in New York come from the same era as Lindsay’s, but her poems demonstrate more experimental use of language and grittier descriptions of the city. Her work illuminated the struggles of the impoverished workers housed in the Lower East Side tenements.
Further Literary Resources
“Noncanonical Congo: A Discussion of Vachel Lindsay’s “The Congo”” by Al Filreis (2009)
Al Filreis hosts a roundtable discussion of the poem at Kelly Writers House. Panel members include poets Charles Bernstein, Michelle Taransky, and Aldon Nielsen. Filreis provides biographical and historical context and raises the question of racism immediately, contrasting the poem’s perspective with what we know of Lindsay’s life. The panel suggests useful ways of approaching the poem, including beginning an inquiry by considering the work a sound poem only. The panel embarks on a general discussion regarding canonical avoidance of poetry that disturbs an audience on any level. Filreis makes the point that many actual racist poets still find their way into the accepted canon because they avoid the topic of race altogether. The discussion turns to the general perception—and misperception—of poetry and poets in modern popular culture. Bernstein suggests that “The Congo” can serve as a “teachable moment” for students of American poetry.
“Spontaneous Poetics (Vachel Lindsay)” by Allen Ginsberg (2013)
In this lecture transcript, Ginsberg discusses Lindsay’s overall influence on American poetry, especially in terms of rhythm and meter. Ginsberg addresses the merits and pitfalls of “The Congo” specifically, calling it “one of the most interesting poems ever written in America.” The article offers a link to a recording of Ginsberg’s own recitation of “The Congo.”
“An American Millenium: Vachel Lindsay and the Poetics of Stargazing” by Laurence Goldstein (1998)
Goldstein examines Lindsay’s work through his interest in and understanding of the nascent film genre. Noting that Lindsay began his career as a visual artist, Goldstein looks at the cinematic imagery in Lindsay’s poetry.
“The Mystery of Vachel Lindsay” by T. R. Hummer (2011)
Poet T. R. Hummer contextualizes Lindsay’s work, mentioning “The Congo” as an example of unintentional racism stemming from Lindsay’s Romantic Primitivism. Hummer explains the role of vaudeville sensibilities in Lindsay’s style, identifying Lindsay as an artist in conflict between high and low art expectations.
“From New Elocution to New Criticism and the Dismissal of Vachel Lindsay” by Brian McAllister (2022)
This academic study places Lindsay’s style of performance within the context of vaudeville, elocution, and other spoken performance conventions. McAllister proposes the oratory style’s loss of favor contributed to Lindsay’s erasure from the American literary canon. As a work on the page alone, Lindsay’s poems did not convey the power and genius of his public performances, leaving his legacy uncertain.
Listen to Poem
This recording of “The Congo” read by the poet himself in 1931 shows Vachel Lindsay’s distinctive performance style. His percussive, clipped articulation calls to mind evangelical preaching, speaking in tongues, and call-and-response. His focus on auditory features of performance also resembles jazz vocal improvisation. Lindsay’s gestures, expressions, and staged movements would have completed the experience for the audience; listening to his energetic vibrato, though, helps contemporary readers imagine the dynamic performance. A few months after this recording, frustrated with his career and his audiences’ demands for his old material and his inability to provide enough financial support for his family, Lindsay took his own life. This poet-singer chose to drink drain cleaner as his means of annihilation, as if to erase his voice from the world.
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