Paul Lawrence Dunbar

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Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was the first important African American Poet in American
Literature and the first poet to write of both a black and white audience in a
time when efforts were being made to re-establish slavery. He was also “the
first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim”(43). During
his short lifetime Dunbar became known as the “poet laureate of African
Americans” (Columbus 45). Paul Lawrence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio in
1872, to two freed slaves. Both of Dunbar's parents, who had been born slaves,
had a love for literature. His father Joshua, had escaped slavery, moved to
Canada, and returned to fight in the Civil War. It was after the war that he met
and married Dunbar’s mother, Matilda. Matilda and Joshua had two children
before he passed away in 1874, (some sources say they may have been divorced).
Dunbar had written his first poem when he was seven years old. It was through
his mother Matilda, that Dunbar earned a love for literature, for she would
teach her children the art of songs and storytelling (Draper 622). He was an
excellent, well-behaved and diligent student, and graduated from high school
with honors in 1891. Even though he was the only African American in the school,
he was elected class president and delivered the class's graduation poem (Harris
107). Dunbar’s initial open reading was on his birthday in 1892. A past
teacher of his had given him the opportunity to give the convivial address to
the Western Association of Writers when they gathered in Dayton, Ohio. It was
then that Dunbar met and became friends with James Newton Matthews who wrote to
a paper in Illinois admiring Dunbar’s work. The letter was later reprinted in
several papers across the country giving Dunbar local attention (Columbus 32).
Since the death of his father seven years before, he had to work to support
himself and his mother. After his graduation he could only find employment as an
elevator operator. In between calls he would write poems and articles for
various Midwestern newspapers while studying some of his favorite poets,
including Shakespeare, Tennyson, Keats, Poe, and Longfellow (Harris 107, 108).
Dunbar’s style of writing was like that of none other during his time period,
as thought by other poets. “Dunbar had developed a style that was
double-voiced about race; seemingly carefree in Black dialect but more serious
and brooding when in standard English. The perhaps best and most famous of his
dialect p...

The complete article is about 1920 words and 7.68 pages long.

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