Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Best Dialect Poet in Modernism

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Recommended: American negro poetry

Frederick Douglass once said that Paul Laurence Dunbar is “the most promising young colored man in America” (Paul Poets.org). This goes well with Dunbar since he eventually turned out to be one of the best dialect poets in his time period. Paul Dunbar (1872-1906) was part of the modernism movement that wanted to create something new and get rid of the old literature. They used more free verse poetry and stream of consciousness writing. The time period lasted from 1890 to the 1940s (PBS np). The parents of Paul Dunbar were slaves before and after he was born and then separated shortly after his birth and was financially unable to attend college which lead him to befriend Frederick Douglass to help Dunbar become a better writer.
Paul Dunbar was born into a tough life from the beginning. His parents were slaves and shortly they separated after his birth but this helped Dunbar later on in his career because Dunbar would draw stories from their plantation life (Paul Poetry Foundation). He had to grow up without two parents and had to tough it out on his own. Dunbar also was financially unable to attend college and eventually moved to Chicago and befriended Frederick Douglass (Paul Poetry Foundation np). These events affected his life by not allowing Dunbar to attend college and sharpen his writing skills and Douglass helped him gain more reputation. Dunbar challenged the literary world by trying to make them read within the words and not just read the words. He fought slavery through his poetry and always referred to people as “we” and never “I”. This is important because Dunbar wanted to stand up for the whole black community and it is important he inspired so many people to read his poems. Dunbar impacted modernism by writing some o...

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...esented his race as a whole and not just himself.

Works Cited

Andrews, William L. "Dunbar, Paul Laurence." World Book Advanced. World Book, Inc. Web. 7 May 2014. .
Carrol, William. "We Wear the Mask." Literary Reference Center. EBSCO Industries, Inc. Web. 13 May 2014.

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"Paul Laurence Dunbar." Sweet Search. Dulcinea Media, Inc. Web. 15 May 2014.
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PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. .

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