The words beneath the sand: An examination of the works of three Virgin Islands poets, Cyril Creque, J. P. Gimenez, and J. Antonio Jarvis

This study is an excavation and examination of the works of Virgin Islands poets, Cyril Creque, J. P. Gimenez, and J. Antonio Jarvis, who wrote in the first half of the twentieth century. Originally conceptualized as a refutation of the assertions of critics that Virgin Islands poets were mere imitators of the European style, this study reveals a rich tapestry of original imagery and language, reflective of the Virgin Islands' unique history and culture. It looks at the historical and literary contexts which fostered the writers in question and provides a thorough study of one aspect of each man's poetry.;In particular Creque's Romanticism is examined, as are Gimenez's vernacular poems, and Jarvis' dual consciousness. Contextualized within the parameters of English Romanticism, one chapter examines Creque's attention to nature, injustice, and the impact of Danish governance on the people of the territory. In like manner, the study of Gimenez's vernacular poetry is situated within the tradition of African American writers such as Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar, as well as Caribbean writer Nicolas Guillen. Particular attention is paid to Gimenez's vivid portrayal of the hardships experienced by residents of the Virgin Islands in the early days of American naval government. The final chapter addresses Jarvis' duality as a Renaissance man of the Caribbean and the United States. Serving as a pivot for the arts in The Virgin Islands, Jarvis provides opportunities and venues for artistic expression. All three writers and their works are examined from the perspective of the tensions created by their being products of the United States Virgin Islands, a territory at once Caribbean and American.;This dissertation is, most likely, the first comprehensive critical work on Virgin Islands poetry and on Creque, Gimenez, and Jarvis. As such it will be useful to scholars interested in the literature of the Virgin Islands and also of the Caribbean and the United States of which the territory is a part. It verifies, not only the presence of a poetic heritage, but testifies to its quality as well as its significance in the two poetic traditions of which it is a part.