Paul Laurence Dunbar
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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.[1]
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[edit] Biography
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.
His wife Alice Dunbar Nelson was a famous poet as well. A graduate of 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.[2]
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.[3] 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 played successfully toured England and America over a period of four years - one of the more successful theatrical productions of its time.[4] 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 his return, Dunbar took a job at the Library of Congress in Washington. In 1900, Dunbar was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and moved to Colorado with his wife on the advice of his doctors. Dunbar died at age thirty-three on February 9, 1906 from tuberculosis, and was interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio.
 Home of Paul Dunbar |
 Grave site and memorial. |
 1975 US Postage Stamp |
[edit] Usage of dialect
Much of Dunbar's work was authored in conventional English, while some was rendered in African-American dialect. Dunbar remained always suspicious that there was something demeaning about the marketability of dialect poems:
| “ | I am tired, so tired of dialect. I send out graceful little poems, suited for any of the magazines, but they are returned to me by editors who say, Dunbar, but we do not care for the language compositions. | ” |
Two brief examples of Dunbar's work, the first in standard English and the second in dialect, demonstrate the diversity of the poet's production:
- What dreams we have and how they fly
- Like rosy clouds across the sky;
- Of wealth, of fame, of sure success,
- Of love that comes to cheer and bless;
- And how they whither, how they fade,
- The waning wealth, the jilting jade —
- The fame that for a moment gleams,
- Then flies forever, — dreams, ah — dreams!
(From Dreams)
- "Sunshine on de medders,
- Greenness on de way;
- Dat's de blessed reason
- I sing all de day."
- Look hyeah! What you axing'?
- What meks me so merry?
- 'Spect to see me sighin'
- W'en hit's wa'm in Febawary?
(From A warm day in winter)
[edit] Publications
- L. K. Wiggins, compiler, Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1907)
- Complete Poetical Works, with W. D. Howells's introduction to "Lyrics of Lowly Life" (new impressions, New York, 1913)
- "The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar" by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Joanne M. Braxton, editor[1]
[edit] See also
- African American literature
- Dunbar High School (Ohio)
- Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.)
- Dunbar Hospital (Detroit, Michigan)
- Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (Baltimore, Maryland)
- Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (Lexington, Kentucky)
- Dunbar Gifted and Talented International Studies Magnet Middle School (Little Rock, Arkansas)
- Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
- Samuel Coleridge-Taylor black composer
[edit] References
- ^ Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
- ^ St. Louis - Arts & Entertainment - Color Bind
- ^ Paul Laurence, Printed Material
- ^ Riis, Thomas L., Just Before Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890-1915. (Smithsonian Institution Press: London, 1989) p. 91.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Laurence Dunbar |
- Paul Laurence Dunbar: Online Resources, from the Library of Congress
- Dunbar House state historical site, by the Ohio Historical Society
- Dunbar house is also part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park which includes both the Wright Brothers bicycle shop and Dunbar's home (along with a bicycle the Wrights gave him).
- Wright State University's Paul Laurence Dunbar Library special collection
- University of Dayton's Paul Laurence Dunbar website
- Paul Laurence Dunbar Toledo's Attic Exhibit, contains an essay written by Dr. Timothy Messer-Kruse, then of the University of Toledo, as well as a short history of his writing career.
- Works by Paul Laurence Dunbar at Project Gutenberg
- The Life and Works of Paul Lawrence Dunbar by Lida Keck Wiggins, issued by Winston-Derek in 1992 ISBN 1-55523-473-9
- Dunbar's Legacy of Language, a 2006 NPR story marking the 100th anniversary of Dunbar's death; included is a poetry reading.
- Index entry for Paul Laurence Dunbar at Poets' Corner
