Frank Marshall Davis

John Edgar Tidwell (University of Kansas)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 31 Dec 1905
Died 26 Jul 1987
Activity 1925-1984

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Journalist
Poet
Revolutionary, Activist

Resources

Davis' Works

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Frank Marshall Davis rose to prominence as a poet and journalist during the Depression and the Second World War. Prior to his departure for the Territory of Hawaii in 1948, he found himself the subject of adulation by many readers but also the target of careful scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Part of the reason for these diverging, oppositional interests was his social realist poetry. Poetry for him became an alternative mode of expression, one that provided release from the “objectivity” demanded by the medium of journalism. It enabled him to respond “subjectively” to a world of racial discrimination, labour inequity, differential politics, and so much more that burdened and stifled one's humanity. As a result,…

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1165 words

Citation: Tidwell, John Edgar. "Frank Marshall Davis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 July 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5045, accessed 21 November 2024.]