Do Not Separate Her from Her Garden: Anne Spencer's Ecopoetics

Anne Spencer's writings on nature were disregarded as apolitical during the New Negro Renaissance, but Carlyn Ferrari's book "Do Not Separate Her from Her Garden" demonstrates how Spencer used the natural world to express her Black womanhood, feminist politics, spirituality, and unique worldview. It resituates Spencer in the pantheon of American women of letters and analyzes works by Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Dionne Brand through an ecocritical lens.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 170 pages
Publication date: 14 December 2022
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Anne Spencer's artistic identity was intricately linked to her profound connection with the natural world. During the New Negro Renaissance, a period closely associated with her, critics often dismissed her writings on nature as apolitical and disconnected from the concerns of Black people. However, Do Not Separate Her from Her Garden seeks to rectify this misconception by demonstrating how Spencer ingeniously employed the natural world to express her Black womanhood, feminist politics, spirituality, and unique worldview. By adopting the ecopoetics framework, Carlyn Ferrari re-centers Spencer's archive of ephemeral writings, unveiling the essence of her artistic ethos. This book, which primarily draws from unpublished and undated poetry and prose, represents a long overdue reassessment of an underappreciated literary figure. Not only does it elevate Spencer to the esteemed ranks of American women of letters, but it also utilizes her environmental credo to analyze works by renowned authors such as Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Dionne Brand. By positioning ecocritical readings as a new site of analysis for Black women's writings, this book offers a fresh and insightful perspective on the rich tapestry of African American literature.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813948775