Poems of Black Africa was well received by
Ursula A. Barnett, who declared it a successful anthology, although acknowledging that the work focuses on quality rather than comprehensiveness, despite being described as encompassing "most of the experience of the African world". She notes in her review in
World Literature Today that many of the poems included were written by African statesmen. In contrast to Barnett's review, Kelly notes a lack of quality writing throughout the selections; he calls the poems difficult to understand and says that they are full of overwriting and lack clarity, placing responsibility for this fault on the anthology and on Soyinka himself as editor. Kelly says that genuine feeling expressed in the poems is not enough to overcome the lack of structure and form. Ending his critique, he states that black poets would have been better served by an anthology that focused on quality rather than themes, calling
Poems of Black Africa "provocative and embarrassing". == Contributing poets ==