ENTITY · GENRE

Dub poetry

Well supported

Poetry written to be spoken over a reggae rhythm, or written with that rhythm already in it. The name is generally credited to Oku Onuora, and the form runs through Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mutabaruka, Michael Smith and Jean Binta Breeze — political, spoken in Jamaican language, and taking the deejay's relationship to a rhythm somewhere the dancehall was not going.

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At a glance

Type: genre →
Era: Rocksteady, reggae and dub →
Confidence: Well supported

Connections

In stories

Story · Well supportedThe women of dub poetry and the spoken word

Jamaican-born women carried dub poetry's reasoning voice from Kingston yards to Toronto stages and a Halifax poet laureateship.

Story · Well supportedDub poetry and the reggae page

Dub poetry put Jamaican speech and reggae bass on the page and the stage at once, and made a form that belongs equally to Kingston, London and Toronto.

Debate & reception

How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →

debate

Is dub poetry literature, record culture or both?

Dub poetry challenges a clean split between book, stage and sound recording, making bibliography and discography equally important evidence layers.

Stance: literary canon vs sound-system poetics