Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 1K views

    Sympathy Dunbar

    Uploaded by

    api-263744910
    The document provides a biography and analysis of the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It discusses Dunbar's background as one of the first prominent African American poets who drew from his parents' experiences as freed slaves. The poem "Sympathy" uses the metaphor of a caged bird to express the feelings of confinement and desire for freedom. The biography notes Dunbar's early success getting published while working as an elevator operator, and his friendship with Frederick Douglass who helped advance his career. Despite health problems, Dunbar had a prolific writing career and confirmed his position as America's premier black poet before his early death at age 33.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Sympathy Dunbar

    Uploaded by

    api-263744910
    1K views2 pages
    The document provides a biography and analysis of the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It discusses Dunbar's background as one of the first prominent African American poets who drew from his parents' experiences as freed slaves. The poem "Sympathy" uses the metaphor of a caged bird to express the feelings of confinement and desire for freedom. The biography notes Dunbar's early success getting published while working as an elevator operator, and his friendship with Frederick Douglass who helped advance his career. Despite health problems, Dunbar had a prolific writing career and confirmed his position as America's premier black poet before his early death at age 33.

    Original Title

    sympathy dunbar

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document provides a biography and analysis of the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It discusses Dunbar's background as one of the first prominent African American poets who drew from his parents' experiences as freed slaves. The poem "Sympathy" uses the metaphor of a caged bird to express the feelings of confinement and desire for freedom. The biography notes Dunbar's early success getting published while working as an elevator operator, and his friendship with Frederick Douglass who helped advance his career. Despite health problems, Dunbar had a prolific writing career and confirmed his position as America's premier black poet before his early death at age 33.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views2 pages

    Sympathy Dunbar

    Uploaded by

    api-263744910
    The document provides a biography and analysis of the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It discusses Dunbar's background as one of the first prominent African American poets who drew from his parents' experiences as freed slaves. The poem "Sympathy" uses the metaphor of a caged bird to express the feelings of confinement and desire for freedom. The biography notes Dunbar's early success getting published while working as an elevator operator, and his friendship with Frederick Douglass who helped advance his career. Despite health problems, Dunbar had a prolific writing career and confirmed his position as America's premier black poet before his early death at age 33.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Name: __________________________ Period: ______ Date: ________________

    Poetry Analysis

    Sympathy
    by Paul Laurence Dunbar

    I know what the caged bird feels, alas!


    When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
    When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
    And the river flows like a stream of glass;
    When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, 5
    And the faint perfume from its chalice steals
    I know what the caged bird feels!

    I know why the caged bird beats his wing


    Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
    For he must fly back to his perch and cling 10
    When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
    And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
    And they pulse again with a keener sting
    I know why he beats his wing!

    I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, 15


    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,
    When he beats his bars and he would be free;
    It is not a carol of joy or glee,
    But a prayer that he sends from his hearts deep core,
    But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings 20
    I know why the caged bird sings!
    Born on June 27, 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African-American poets to gain national
    recognition. His parents Joshua and Matilda Murphy Dunbar were freed slaves from Kentucky. His parents
    separated shortly after his birth, but Dunbar would draw on their stories of plantation life throughout his writing
    career. By the age of fourteen, Dunbar had poems published in the Dayton Herald. While in high school he
    edited the Dayton Tattler, a short-lived black newspaper published by classmate Orville Wright.

    Despite being a fine student, Dunbar was financially unable to attend college and took a job as an elevator
    operator. In 1892, a former teacher invited him to read his poems at a meeting of the Western Association of
    Writers; his work impressed his audience to such a degree that the popular poet James Whitcomb Riley wrote
    him a letter of encouragement. In 1893, Dunbar self-published a collection called Oak and Ivy. To help pay the
    publishing costs, he sold the book for a dollar to people riding in his elevator.

    Later that year, Dunbar moved to Chicago, hoping to find work at the first Worlds Fair. He befriended
    Frederick Douglass, who found him a job as a clerk, and also arranged for him to read a selection of his poems.
    Douglass said of Dunbar that he was the most promising young colored man in America. By 1895, Dunbars
    poems began appearing in major national newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times. With the
    help of friends, he published the second collection, Majors and Minors (1895).

    This recognition helped Dunbar gain national and international acclaim He also brought out a new
    collection, Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896). Dunbar received a clerkship at the Library of Congress in
    Washington, DC, and shortly thereafter he married the writer Alice Ruth Moore. While living in Washington,
    Dunbar published a short story collection, Folks from Dixie, a novel entitled The Uncalled, and two more
    collections of poems, Lyrics of the Hearthside and Poems of Cabin and Field (1899). He also contributed lyrics
    to a number of musical reviews.

    In 1898, Dunbars health deteriorated, [but] Dunbar continued to write poems. His collections from this time
    include Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903), Howdy, Howdy, Howdy (1905), and Lyrics of Sunshine and
    Shadow (1905). These books confirmed his position as Americas premier black poet. Dunbars steadily
    deteriorating health caused him to return to his mothers home in Dayton, Ohio, where he died on February 9,
    1906, at the age of thirty-three.

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy