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Paul Laurence Dunbar

Author profile

born

June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, The United States

died

February 09, 1906

gender

male

website

http://www.dunbarsite.org

genre

Poetry

About this author

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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.

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 activel...more 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 and his wife separ(less)

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Books by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Average rating: 3.86 · 319 ratings · 38 reviews · 51 distinct works

	The Sport of the Gods by Paul Laurence Dunbar, William L. Andrews (Introduction) 3.48 avg rating — 133 ratings — published 1902 — 26 editions	My rating:
	The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Joanne M. Braxton (Editor) 4.08 avg rating — 60 ratings — published 1913 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar by Paul Laurence Dunbar, William Dean Howells 4.62 avg rating — 26 ratings — 26 editions	My rating:
	Selected Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Dover Thrift Editions 4.00 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 1997 — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Lyrics Of Lowly Life by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Dunbar, William Dean Howells (Introduction) 3.94 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 1896 — 14 editions	My rating:
	Jump Back, Honey: The Poems Of Paul Laurence Dunbar by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Brian Pinkney (Illustrations) 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Heart of Happy Hollow 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1904 — 20 editions	My rating:
	The Negro Problem (Classics in Black Studies) 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2003	My rating:
	The Love Of Landry 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:
	The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gene Andrew Jarrett (Editor), Thomas Lewis Morgan (Editor) 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2009	My rating:

More books by Paul Laurence Dunbar…

Quotes by Paul Laurence Dunbar

“..we wear the mask that grins and lies,
it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes-
this debt we pay to human guile;
with torn and bleeding hearts we smile.”
― Paul Laurence Dunbar

18 people liked it

“We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,- -
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be otherwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see thus, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!”
― Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Lyrics Of Lowly Life

8 people liked it

“I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,-
When he beats 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!”
― Paul Laurence Dunbar

5 people liked it

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Book Nook Cafe: * Poetry	318	144	14 hours, 51 min ago