Essay about The Poet by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

Dunbar wrote in black dialect also, although it wasn’t his ideal way of writing. His readers favored his poems in black dialect instead of his preferred way of standard English so in spite of his success he was disappointed that his greatest gift had gone unappreciated. The need to survive financially in the literary world had forced him to compromise his talent. Dunbar often wrote about the difficulties the black race encountered and the ongoing race for equality in America; a subject Wheatley rarely touched in her poems.

The speaker starts the poem by describing her mother, who was a white settler. Hogan worded this in a way that the reader could interpret as a negative connotation, which was later made clearer when Hogan pronounced the Grandmother’s hatred toward the white settlers.

Langston Hughes clearly connects with a wide range of audiences through the simplicity that surrounds his poetry. The beauty of this manner in which he wrote his poetry, is that it grasp people by illustrating his narratives of the common lifestyles experienced by the current American generation. His art form expresses certain questionable ideologies of life and exposes to the audience what it takes to fully comprehend what being an American truly means. Each individual poem describes and illustrates the strength and hardships the African American community was experiencing. Through his literature art form of poetry, Hughes was able to convey the common assertions of

Paul Laurence Dunbar is another great poet of the Harlem Renaissance Era, Writing about equality and the lack there of for the African American brothers and sisters. His father served in the 55 regiment Army in Massachusetts when the war broke out between the North and the South inspiring young Paul to write several poems celebrating the role of African American soldiers in winning the Civil War and ending slavery. Paul’s mother fought hard and sacrificed much for him to be able to obtain a good education, he was the only African American in his class at Central High School where he excelled and had many friends. He became the editor of his school paper, was elected president of the literacy club, and was given the honor of composed and presented

The first poet I chose from the Harlem Renaissance was the American poet, Countee Cullen This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African Americans. (Brown, 2012) The work, Yet Do I Marvel, took a racial theme, lynching of a black youth for a crime he did not commit. The poem is stark and makes reference to Sisyphus and speaks of how life is a struggle up a never ending stair. It speaks to God as if to wonder why, knowing that God is benevolent he does not stop the unreasoning actions of brutes against, “flesh that mirrors him”, meaning the black race. (Brown, 2012) This line is important as it shows that the black consciousness is coming to recognition of their own worth taken

Have you ever felt like time was running past you? That the world kept spinning while you just stood still? Time is a central theme in many of Kenneth Slessor’s poems, however it is primarily explored through ‘Out of time’ and ‘Five Bells’. Slessor has made it obvious that he is aware that time continues whether we want it to or not and this is what allows us to put into perspective the notion of humanity’s dominance.

Paul Robeson was a famous African American athlete, singer, actor and advocate for the civil

Paul Laurence Dunbar is African-American poet who lived from in the late 1880s to the early 1900s. During his life, Dunbar wrote many poems, in both dialect and standard english. However, many of his poems are considered controversial now, due to negative racial stereotypes and dialect. Currently, some believe that Dunbar’s poetry perpetuates harmful stereotypes such as use of dialect; while others believe that it helps break racial stereotypes through the portrayed emotions. Dunbar’s dialect poetry is helpful for African-Americans, because it accurately depicts the experience of African Americans and humanizes them.

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

This short story written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Ingrate has three main characters, Mr. and Mrs. Leckler, white farmers who owns a large plantation in the South, and Josh Leckler, their slave. In this story, Josh is determined to escape to Canada called the ‘land of freedom’. Mr. and Mrs Leckler are clueless about Josh plan to escape from slavery. Mrs. Leckler, taught Josh the “three R’s (reading, writing. ‘rithmetic), by her husband’s request. Mr. Leckler being the slave master is breaking the law by allowing Josh to be educated. Although, Mr. Leckler breaks the law to teach Josh, to read, he still use language such as “teaching a nigger to cipher!” Josh would dream about “the forbidden vision of freedom.” After he awaken from his dream, he heard a voice (metaphor) “out of the woods and whispered to him “Courage!” –and on that night the shadows beckoned him as the white hills had done, and the forest called to him, “Follow.” Josh envisioned slavery as a “deep night.”

Race plays a big part in this poem. He speaks on Harlem and its culture and this environment but also about mutual interest with people

 On the way to this crescendo, Dunbar continues to add depth and breadth to the mask metaphor. “Cheeks and eyes are being hidden, and in “mouth with myriad subtleties” At this point in the poem there is little to lead the reader

For example in line seven and eight, “There the potent sorrow, there the grief, the pale, sad staring.” The people he is speaking to is anyone that has gone through tragedies in their life that struggle to find joy. Dunbar’s perspective in the poem is he has gone through too much sorrow and pain in his time, that when the good things do come it is difficult to enjoy them as you should. For example in line fifteen till the end he says, “ We count our joys not by what we have, But by what kept us from that perfect thing” (Paul Laurence Dunbar - Poem Hunter). The theme of this poem is to try and cherish the positive things in life when they come along, rather than always think about the negative that has happened in the past.

James Dickey was an American Poet whose life has been very diverse, and in his poetry that diversity is shown. He has a lifestyle that most poets do not get to experience. He has lived in many states and countries. That gives me the reason to think that his poetry resembles this life’s diversity.