Paul Laurence Dunbar
by Austin Curry
A Special Type Of Sympathy
Paul Laurence
Dunbar’s ex-wife, a literary critic, believes, “A poet is a poet because he
understands; because he is born with a divine
kinship with all things, and
he is a poet in direct ratio to his power of sympathy" (The Collected
Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, p.19). Dunbar’s specialized ability to
sympathize with the world is what set his poetry off from the average
writer. His poverty-ridden childhood and harsh adulthood gave him a unique
perspective on a variety circumstances. Dealing with racism in the 1890’s
and then dealing with the angry Afro-American critics who claimed he was
increasing the stereotypes of black people by writing in black vernacular,
he was able to see both sides of almost any situation, and his suffering was
reflected in many poems.
What made him special was how he was able to write with whatever style he chose. While he wrote multiple poems using so called “black” dialect, he also had several poems that were written in formal English and considered extremely well composed, such as “Sympathy” and “The Colored Soldiers.” Paul Laurence Dunbar had to face unfair critiques of his work all his life. White critics, including one of his first publishers, often said that his work in black dialect was very good, and wouldn’t give a partial look to his work in standard English. In his book, Majors and Minors, the majors are the poems written in formal English, which he considered his more serious work, and the minors are poems written in “black” dialect. His own publisher, a man by the name of Howell, published an article in the local newspaper in Ohio, saying his “black” poems were very well written, but that his formal poems were run-of-the-mill. Dunbar paved the way for writers such as Langston Hughes, who wrote his first “Dunbar-style” poem in high school, and Countee Cullen, who both used Paul Laurence Dunbar as a role model. His poetry showed other black poets that their work did not all have to be in “black” vernacular, and that they could step out and write in standard English whenever they wished.
The Dunbar family was used to hardship. Joshua Dunbar, Paul Dunbar’s father, was born into slavery. Later, he barely managed to escape with the help of the Underground Railroad. Dunbar’s mother, Matilda Murphy, had just suffered the loss of a husband before meeting Joshua Dunbar. After Paul Laurence Dunbar was born, two years later, his sister, Elizabeth, was born. She would die at two years of age. Afterwards, his parents separated, and his father left the home.
Paul Laurence Dunbar learned to read, from his mother’s teachings, at a very early age. He showed superior talents in the English language and reading almost immediately. While in high school, he had intended to go to college, but he was forced to take a menial job that paid only four dollars a week to support himself once he graduated. He faced racism as soon as he went out on his own. He found that no matter how educated he was, he could only get jobs involving physical labor, usually jobs that paid the least. His poetry was just about his only way of venting his frustration. In his early twenties, he fell in love with another young black writer by the name of Alice Ruth Moore. He met her through her poetry, which he saw published in a newspaper. Though they were a loving couple, they later were divorced because Dunbar’s sudden popularity, through his poetry, caused many separations between him and his wife.
In 1893, he met Frederick Douglass at a convention for black rights. Douglass was already very old, yet Dunbar left a lasting impression on him. Douglass from then on would almost take on the role of a father figure toward Dunbar. This companionship increased the writer’s confidence in his own talents. In 1906, Paul Laurence Dunbar died in his home, at the age of 33, of tuberculosis.
Published Works:
Oak and Ivy (1893)
Majors and Minors (1895)
Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
Folks from Dixie (Short Story Collection) (1896)
The Uncalled (a novel) (1897)
Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899)
Poems of Cabin and Field (1899)
Lyrics of Love (1903)
Howdy, Howdy, Howdy (1905)
Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905)