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To Crystal M.'s biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Paul Dunbar is famous as one of the
first important black authors in American Literature. His work depicted slave
situations during the 19th century. He blithely enjoyed experimenting with his
ideas. Paul became even more popular in the 20th century, immediately fter publication of
his two books, Majors and Minors (during 1895) and Lyrics of the Lowly
(during 1896). An abundancy of his work referred to black stereotypes from the white
society. This was during the time when it was hard to appease white audiences, and
appeasing white society was a major goal of most black writers.The dialect poems
are very colorful and this is only a small crumb of his larger cookie. Dunbar's literary
body is great, impressive, an outstanding representation of turn-of-the-century
America. Because of his poetic technique, he was the first to be able to express his
personal view of his own race. He was teh first to become fully capableof expressing
it's humor, superstitions, religion, it's ups and downs. Paul also expressed
sympathetically it's scars, pain, and sorrow, and he voiced them all in a pure, literary
form.Being the son of
former slaves, Paul listened to his mother's memories of when she lived on a
plantation. These stories contributed to many of his poems and short stories.
He began his writing as a child. Many of his teachers encouraged his talent.
During high school, Dunbar wrote many of the plays for the drama club. Graduating
in 1891, Paul and his family couldn't afford a college tuition, so he became an editor for
newspapers and small businesses. Later he became an elevator operator. While
on duty, he often found himself reciting his poetry to the riders of his elevator.
In his spare time he kept writing.He privately
published Oak and Ivy in 1893. This collection sold so well that he quit
his job as an elevator post. That same year, he left Dayton, Ohio to work with
Fredrick Douglass. He was twenty-two years old. Dunbar hoped that if his work could win
over white readers, they would see how talented he was. Unfortunately, he was never fully
accepted by white society. Paul married Alice
Ruth Moore in 1898. Their marriage only lasted six years, and they were divorced in
1904. It was only two years later that Dunba died of tuberculosis.
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