The Claude McKay Poetry Collection Series – serie

Constab Ballads (1912) was the second published work by Claude McKay, after Songs of Jamaica earlier that year. This collection, also written in Jamaican Patois, was largely based on his experiences while serving as a police constable in Spanish Town. The poems are an alluring combination of traditional verses, dramatic monologues and confessional love lyrics.

This collection includes the poems:

Claude McKay was one of the twentieth century’s finest poets and Songs of Jamaica (1912) was his first published work. This pioneering collection, written in Jamaican Patois, was the first of its kind. In the opening poem ‘Quashie to Buccra’ he asserts the worker’s voice:

“You tas’e petater an’ you say it sweet, But you no know how hard we wuk fe it; You want a basketful fe quattiewut, ’Cause you no know how ’tiff de bush fe cut.”

This collection includes the poems:

QUASHIE TO BUCCRAMY NATIVE LAND, MY HOMEBENEATH THE YAMPY SHADEWHEN YOU WANT A BELLYFULKILLIN’ NANNYKING BANANAHARD TIMESMOTHER DEARCUDJOE FRESH FROM DE LECTURETO CLARENDON HILLS AND H. A. H.STROKES OF THE TAMARIND SWITCHSCHOOL-TEACHER NELL’S LUB-LETTER