Selected Poems

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dubbed the "Poet Laureate of the Negro race" by Booker T. Washington, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) is best known for his lively dialect poems. In addition to his dialect verse, however, Dunbar also wrote fine poems in standard English that captured many elements of the black experience in America.
This volume contains a representative cross-section of both types of verse, including "Ode to Ethiopia," "Worn Out," "Not They Who Soar," "When Malindy Sings," "We Wear the Mask," "Little Brown Baby," "Dinah Kneading Dough," "The Haunted Oak," "Black Samson of Brandywine" and many more.
A rich amalgam of lyrics encompassing patriotism, a celebration of rural life and homey pleasures, anger at the inequalities accorded his race, and faith in ultimate justice, this collection affords readers an excellent opportunity to enjoy the distinctive voice and poetic technique of one of the most beloved and widely read African-American poets.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, 19th Century, Historical, Nonfiction, African American Literature

80 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 1997

About the author

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life, one poem in the collection Ode to Ethiopia. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Paul Laurence Dunbar on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had escaped from slavery; his father was a veteran of the American Civil War, having served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment. His parents instilled in him a love of learning and history. He was a student at an all-white high school, Dayton Central High School, and he participated actively as a student. During high school, he was both the editor of the school newspaper and class president, as well as the president of the school literary society. Dunbar had also started the first African-American newsletter in Dayton.

He wrote his first poem at age 6 and gave his first public recital at age 9. Dunbar's first published work came in a newspaper put out by his high school friends Wilbur and Orville Wright, who owned a printing plant. The Wright Brothers later invested in the Dayton Tattler, a newspaper aimed at the black community, edited and published by Dunbar.

His first collection of poetry, Oak and Ivy, was published in 1892 and attracted the attention of James Whitcomb Riley, the popular "Hoosier Poet". Both Riley and Dunbar wrote poems in both standard English and dialect. His second book, Majors and Minors (1895) brought him national fame and the patronage of William Dean Howells, the novelist and critic and editor of Harper's Weekly. After Howells' praise, his first two books were combined as Lyrics of Lowly Life and Dunbar started on a career of international literary fame. He moved to Washington, D.C., in the LeDroit Park neighborhood. While in Washington, he attended Howard University.

He kept a lifelong friendship with the Wrights, and was also associated with Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Brand Whitlock was also described as a close friend.[2] He was honored with a ceremonial sword by President Theodore Roosevelt.

He wrote a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, five novels, and a play. He also wrote lyrics for In Dahomey - the first musical written and performed entirely by African-Americans to appear on Broadway in 1903; the musical comedy successfully toured England and America over a period of four years - one of the more successful theatrical productions of its time.[3] His essays and poems were published widely in the leading journals of the day. His work appeared in Harper's Weekly, the Saturday Evening Post, the Denver Post, Current Literature and a number of other publications. During his life, considerable emphasis was laid on the fact that Dunbar was of pure black descent, with no white ancestors ever.

Dunbar's work is known for its colorful language and use of dialect, and a conversational tone, with a brilliant rhetorical structure.

Dunbar traveled to England in 1897 to recite his works on the London literary circuit. He met the brilliant young black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who some of his poems to music and who was influenced by Dunbar to use African and American Negro songs and tunes in future compositions.

After returning from England, Dunbar married Alice Ruth Moore in 1898. A graduate of Straight University (now Dillard University) in New Orleans, her most famous works include a short story entitled "Violets". She and her husband also wrote books of poetry as companion pieces. An account of their love, life and marriage was depicted in a play by Kathleen McGhee-Anderson titled Oak and Ivy.

Dunbar took a job at the Library of Congress in Washington. In 1900, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and moved to Colorado with his wife on the advice of his doctors. Dunbar died at age 33.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Selected Poems had its moments but overall I didn't love it. If people know about Dunbar at all it is usually because Maya Angelou took the title of her seminal novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings from his poem, "Sympathy."

I was skeptical when I read it but true to a central premise of the intro essay by Herman Woodward Martin, poet and professor emeritus at University of Dayton (birthplace of Dunbar), to this collection of poems, I have to concur with Martin that Dunbar's best work were his 'dialect' poems written in the supposed dialect spoken by the Blacks of the period. As compared to his 'standard English' fare which was pretty lackluster reading for the most part, the best of the dialect work were full of (pardon the pun) color, life and soul with many of them reading like song lyrics or at least evoking the rhythmic feel and energy of early blues or field songs. On the other hand, many were also hackneyed and trite and the worst of them were so cringe-worthy, the term coonery and images of Stepin Fetchit leapt to mind.

Apparently, Dunbar himself was conflicted about how he had continue writing poetry in dialect and I feel for him on that account. To be fair, this collection serves as a useful document of it's time from both a literary and historical perspective and there are some notable works within, but they are far out-numbered by the average and ordinary fare that abounds too. Recommended with extreme prejudice.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really great poems in here. A thinner culling might have been even better. Though I am left wanting to read more of Dunbar's prose now.

[Kevin Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really didn't know anything about Dunbar and this little book introduced me to him. I'd heard the "caged bird sing" but never knew who wrote it. Anyway, this was great and Dunbar is one of my favorite poets now.

[Anne Tinklenberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found some of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poems such as, "We Were the Mask", gripping. However, I struggled with his romantic poems written in standard English. The tyranny of the rhyme robbed the poems of concrete detail or meaning. They didn't evoke a specific moment or emotion for me, but rather a generic sentiment or time. Some of the poems that were written in vernacular, though they maintained a rhythm, were more interesting. The rhyme seemed to be playful, almost slyly mocking the content of the poem.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know much about Dunbar before I read this collection, except that he was a black poet and one of his poems inspired the title of Maya Angelou's memoir, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." I enjoyed this brief volume that is not meant to be comprehensive but rather a sampler of Dunbar's poetry, with a brief introduction that puts his life and work in historical context.

I agree with some other commentators that his works in Southern Black dialect are better, on the whole, than the ones written in standard English. Many of the standard English poems felt stilted, and the imagery and rhythm of the dialect poems are generally livelier. It sounds like a blues song if you read some of his dialect poems out loud, and I love the poems that tell stories.

There are exceptions to the rule, however. I really liked one of his standard English poems, "A Summer's Night," especially the lines "Like sentinels, the pines stand in the park/ and hither hastening, like rakes that roam/ with lamps to light their wayward footsteps home/ the fireflies come stagg'ring down the dark."

Among my favorite poems from this collection in dialect were: "An Ante-Bellum Sermon," "A Banjo Song," "A Negro Love Song," "Signs of the Times," "When Malindy Sings," "Little Brown Baby," "A Letter," "A Cabin Tale," "Li'l Gal," and "Possum." Among my favorites in standard English were "Sympathy" (the poem about the caged bird), "A Summer's Night," "Dinah Kneading Dough," "The Haunted Oak," and "Theology."

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems a bit nuts to call this "selected poems" when there are well over 150 in the book. Be that as it may, this collection has so much to relish: from the folksy dialect poems to the portrait odes to the bedtime verses to the catchy songs. Having never read Dunbar before, I was attracted to this anthology because I thought it would give me a quick sampling. And while I've no complaints with the riches herein, if I were to curate a shorter collection, I'd include "After the Quarrel" (for its clear-sightedness about friendship gone sour), "My Sweet Brown Gal" (for being about a violin), "Opportunity" and "The Making Up" (for their humorous O. Henry-style turnarounds), "The Fisher Child's Lullaby" (for its shanty-like rhythms), "Compensation" (for its embroidery potential) and "Sympathy" (for the famous line "I know why the caged bird sings..."). As I make this list, however, I realize how hard it truly is to narrow down Dunbar's work because it has such range over such a long period of time. Ultimately, I guess I'm glad my first encounter with this writer was -- counter to my initial desire -- such a prolonged one.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readability 5. Rating 6. It took me an amazingly long time to read this tiny book - I find poetry generally challenging, but most of the poems were in dialect which made it even more laborious. But I did find them interesting and enjoyable. I found the brief discussion of the controversy surrounding Dunbar and the general idea of writing in dialect interesting, but for me it was less about literature and culture and more about language - a very evocative variation of English. All in all, worthwhile if not my wheelhouse.

[Michael Shurtleff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I visited Dayton, Ohio, I'd never heard of Paul Laurence Dunbar. This concise collection is a balanced, well-delivered introduction to an American master (whom Booker T. Washington called the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race".) The dialect poetry that carved his niche is given equal time with his more mainstream work, in a format that enhances the reader's appreciation of both.

[Cameron Barham]

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he neats his bars and would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!, “Sympathy”, p. 16

[Eric Phetteplace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great formal variety, from traditional odes to poems with the rhythm of folk songs. The dialect poems are really interesting and in general his rhyming is so well done that almost any poem could be made into a song. Those tend to be the happiest poems, celebrating life, work, and community, but there's an awful lot of melancholy too, personal and political.

[Emilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just breaking into the world of poetry and I think Dunbar was a great place to start. I actually recognized some of the poetry.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve loved Dunbar for a long time; reading these poems again after so many years was, largely, a pleasure.

I’m torn between the somewhat common sentiment of ‘his dialect poems were better’, and thinking that the vast majority of them read not so much as poetry as lyrics. I often had difficulty reading them on the page — which is more about my internal reading voice than the poems themselves — and found that speaking them aloud really helped. Many of the poems could be categorised ‘slice of life’ in that their subject matters are about daily jobs or social functions, such as dances and church. Some of the joy in the Christmas poems from his later 1905 book, Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow, is nearly palpable.

It is Dunbar’s so-called ‘standard’ poems that somehow reached me more easily (again, I’m unsure whether it’s the difficulty I have reading ‘dialect’). Perhaps most famous is “Sympathy”, which Maya Angelou used for the title of her first autobiography. A poem like “The Haunted Oak”, originally from Lyrics of Love and Laughter, 1903, affected me deeply: to write of a lynching from the point of view of the tree, and to make it not hokey but humane, struck me as, quite simply, incredible.

To further the ambiguity between the ‘dialect’ and ‘standard’, I think of two poems covering the same subject matter, that of black soldiers during the American Civil War: “When ’Dey Listed Colored Soldiers” (‘dialect’), from Lyrics of Love and Laughter, 1903, and “The Colored Soldiers” (‘standard’), from Majors and Minors, 1895. While the standard poem seeks to elevate and make the soldiers majestic, stately, it is the dialect poem which has more raw emotion. Both are excellent.

Truly, Dunbar is vastly under-appreciated. I am, and have been for years, in awe of this poetry.


Personal Anecdote: While others may think of Droopy Dog when they think of elevator operators, I’ve always thought of Dunbar (who was one, as he had trouble in the late 19th Century finding work commensurate for a black man as educated as he). So, during an event at Barnes and Noble, I got into the elevator with a famous celebrity who may or may not be the Divine Miss M. I asked her to which floor she was going, pressed the button, she said “thanks”, and I said “I’m just like Paul Laurence Dunbar!” She smiled, nodded, and ceased any eye contact.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dunbar is my new favourite poet!
he wrote a lot of poetry in dialect, think of Robt Service writing of the South instead of the Yukon. this edition is the two dollar dover, one of the best bargains i've gotten. should be able to find is work in the public domain, ie. Bartleby.com.
one poem, The Haunted Oak, is written from the view point of an oak tree in which an innocent man was hung from.

if someone gave me a choice of books i've not read by Service, Millay and Dunbar i don't know whose i'd pick up first.

[KenziTheRagin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all poetry, each individual work must stand for itself, and it is hard to judge an overall collection when the feelings towards individual pieces lead to ambivalence towards the whole, in my opinion. The poems give a glimpse into the world of life for Blacks in the South around the times of the Civil War. About half of the works are written to mirror the speech patterns of that time, so you almost have to read them aloud to get the sound right and know what it is supposed to say.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dunbar was a masterful writer and it was a pleasure to get lost in his words. Great poets let you brush up against their soul, and Dunbar was a great poet. Thanks to Maya Angelou, most of us have heard "Sympathy", which starts "I know what the caged bird feels, alas!". But there were many other wonderful poems in this selection. "The Colored Soldiers" will illicit goosebumps of pride. And "My Sort O' Man" is a timeless reflection on our society. Would highly recommend.

[RD Chiriboga Moncayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine poems from an important African-American writer. Some of the poems are in dialects , others are in conventional English. My favorite is Sympathy with the famous verse I know why the caged bird sings.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

dunbar wrote poetry while running the elevators at a california hotel.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great selection of poems. I love Dunbar's funny poems and his romantic poems are adorable. This is a great poetry book.

[Emily D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written. I loved the 19th-century style of his non-dialect poetry, and Dinah Kneading Dough was my favorite of his dialect poems.