Paul Dunbar was a man of mystery. An African American born when slavery ended, with a bitter story to tell. His poetry has nothing happy about it. His rhyming in his poems only is an example of his ironic sarcasm. Using vivid images, and a wide vocabulary, Dunbar is a poetic genius.
In his poem, "We Wear the Mask," Dunbar uses metaphoric language to describe his real emotions. He uses a rhythmic rhyme pattern in each stanza which adds to the message. Dunbar's message was that he feels obligated to hide his emotions behind a mask.
His poem, "Dream," was no exception to Dunbar's theme. This poem discribes that he would rather not deal with his reality. He once again uses a rhythmic rhyme pattern in each stanza to add to the message.
"Sympathy," changes his original ways a little. In this particular poem he compares the life of a slave to the life of a caged bird. He once again uses a rhythmic rhyming pattern, however not to add to the meaning of the poem but to make this sad poem ironic.
In his poem , "Compensation," he explains how he is tired of waiting for presents for for good deeds, and he would rather die. This poem is short, yet still implements each rule of rhyming he originally uses.
His poem, "They Please me Not," he shares his belief that he is tired of being subtle and wants to be bold, with his thoughts. Their os a small rhyming pattern yet the unorganized pattern gives the poem meaning.
Paul Dunbar was an amazing man. He had brilliance as well as talent. His poetry was from a very different time, yet his poetry is so timeless that the meaning works for today.
Found Poem!
"We Wear the Mask!"
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
We wear the mask.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
This debt we pay to human guile;
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Style Poem!
Langston Hughes, "April Rain Song"
Allow your heart to be touched
Allow your heart to beat with passion
Allow the sound to relax you to sleep
Their is a crack in every heart
Their heart can be fixed if you try
Their song can't be fixed by anyone
And I love how it's fixed by you
DREAM VARIATIONS
To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me-
That is my dream!
To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening...
A tall, slim tree...
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.
1.) What phrases are repeated?
To fling my arms wide
whirl
2.) What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
To fling my arms wide
To whirl and to dance
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently
Dark like me
Rest at pale evening
A tall, slim tree
Night coming tenderly
Black like me
3.) Explain metaphors
To fling my arms wide: To pull something in.
To whirl and to dance: To be free.
Beneath a tall tree: To be able to go anywhere.
While night comes on gently: Something creeps up.
Rest at pale evening: To stop where it's white.
A tall, slim tree: Something beautiful.
Night coming tenderly: That something will always creep up on you.
4.) What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
It does not rhyme and it stops, it doesn't affect the meaning.
5.) What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
The message is that where Hughes would go he could never be free, and wherever he would go people of a different race would leave. "To whirl and to dance" this explains how he wants to be free. "In the face of the sun" This means to be able to dance and whirl in front of the world, because he was not ashamed of who he was so why hide it?
JUSTICE
That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.
1.) What phrases are repeated?
NONE
2.) What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
"Bandage hinds our festering sores"
"That once were perhaps eyes"
3.) Explain metaphors
"Bandage that hinds our festering sores": Justice hides old problems and allows people to forget, but if they forget then their not really fixing the problem.
"That once were perhaps eyes": Festering sores were their look out before with a blindfold now no one know whats happening.
4.) What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
"Wise and Eyes": Rhyme.
It does affect the meaning because if you put wise and eyes together it would mean that their eyes were wise.
5.) What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
Don't allow all your suffering to be hidden because then you are still ignoring the problem. "Her bandage hides two festering sores" That explains the message because freedom was her bandage.
APRIL RAIN SONG
Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.
1.) What phrases are repeated?
"Rain"
2.) What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
"Beat upon your Head with sliver liquid drops"
"Pools on the sidewalk"
"Running pools in the gutter"
"Let the rain kiss you"
3.) Explain metaphors
"Rain": Life.
"Beat upon your head with sliver liquid drops": Something small (Raindrop) holding something over your head.
"Pools on the sidewalk": Their is always something to remind you through your everyday life.
"Running pools in the gutter": Always following behind you, watching you.
"Let the rain kiss you": Although the rain is scary, let it get close to you.
4.) What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
It stops and has no rhythmic pattern yet this affected the meaning because eventually the rain stops, like the poem did.
5.) What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
The message was don't be afraid of life (Rain) because life may appear to be holding you back, nagging you, and watching you don't be afraid to let life in.
In the stanza it described this when it said: "Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops" this means that something is always their to remind you, as light as a raindrop.
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I'll be at the tabele
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--
I, too, am America.
1.) What phrases are repeated?
"Eat in the kitchen"
"I, too, sing/am America"
2.) What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
"Darker brother"
3.) Explain metaphors
"Eat in the kitchen": They send you away because their ashamed of you and when people come would rather them not know about you.
"Eat well": Take care of himself, although people don't like him he is not letting himself go.
"Tomorrow I'll be at the table": He's going to show himself, be apart of everything.
4.) What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
It has no rhyme, it stops.
5.) What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
The message of this poem is that America was ashamed to admit and to allow that their were working African Americans in America. (Walt Whitman vs. Langston Hughes!)
In the first stanza this is represented when he said, "They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes" Hughes was not literal when he used this. This was metaphoric, it meant that whenever the Caucasians could they would obligate themselves to hide the African Americans from everyday people. "I'll be at the table
When company comes." This in a way goes off, basically this is Hughes expleaning that although Africans Americans are mistreated you can't let that hold you back, you have to "sit at the table"=take a stand! "They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed" This is Hughes saying that after you take that 'stand" people will see you and how beautiful you are. "I, too, am America." This is saying that person makes America and if you leave out one person in America you don't have America, then again if you leave nationality's then you have no America, he finishes like everyone else in America, America.
Solemn Songs: Paul Dunbar
They please me not-- these solemn songs
That hint of sermons covered up.
'T is true the world should heed its wrongs,
But in a poem let me sup,
Not simples brewed to cure or ease
Humanity's confessed disease,
But the spirit-wine of a singing line,
Or a dew-drop in a honey cup!
1.) What phrases are repeated?
none
2.) What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
"sermons covered up"
"singing line"
"dew-drop in a honey cup"
3.) Explain metaphors
"dew-drop in a honey cup":
dew-drops come during the breaking of a new day, and honey is sweet but thick.
I think this metaphor means that something very "thick" was happening, however a new day came.
"spirit-wine":
something is watching over you as you drink something that could poison you. something, coming on after another.
"singing-line":
something so small could do so much.
4.) What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
It rhymes (songs to sup), however the rhyme pattern is not organized (ease to cup). Yes, it affects the meaning because what he was writing about started off as a very organized thing than moved on to a very unorganized and repetative "singing line".
5.) What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
the message is choose not to be subtle, but to be blunt. "they please me not these solemn songs that hint at sermons covered up." hinting is small, and please him not of course means he did not like them. In this poem specifically I think it was talking about how all poets were supposed to write of unpleasant happening yet explain them with metaphoric language so they could be heard, enjoyed yet not understood for their purpose or meaning, and how he wished to take a stand, yet the people who did take a stand were unorganized and it was like watching something reaping itself.
Compensation
Because I had loved so deeply,
Because I had loved so long,
God in His great compassion
Gave me the gift of song.
Because I have loved so vainly,
And sung with such faltering breath,
The Master in infinite mercy
Offers the boon of Death.
1.) What phrases are repeated?
"Because I had loved so..."
2.) What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
"sung with a flattering breath"
"boon if death"
3.) Explain metaphors
none
4.) What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
Rhymes (second and forth line) yes, it affects the meaning because the lines that rhyme tell the story of the poem.
5.) What is the theme or message of the poem?
It is best to die then to accept the gifts of life, it explained this in the first stanza when it said, "Because I had loved so long ..... God gave me His gift of song" This meant that he had to wait for his gift, and it was just a song even though he had felt he did so much and was in honor of so much. In the second stanza it said, "And sung with a flattering breath .... offers the boon of death" he did something wrong yet he was rewarded the way he wanted to be for doing something right. I think this poem has to do with slavery because he said master, as well the meaning would fit.
Dream
DREAM on, for dreams are sweet:
Do not awaken!
Dream on, and at thy feet
Pomegranates shall be shaken.
Who likeneth the youth
Of life to morning?
'Tis like the night in truth,
Rose-coloured dreams adorning.
The wind is soft above,
The shadows umber.
(There is a dream called Love.)
Take thou the fullest slumber!
In Lethe's soothing stream,
Thy thirst thou slakest.
Sleep, sleep; 't is sweet to dream.
Oh, weep when thou awakest!
- What phrases are repeated?
“Dream”
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
“Pomegranates shall be shaken”
“Rose-colored dreams adorning”
“Wind is soft”
“Shadows umber”
“Soothing stream”
3. Explain metaphors
“Pomegranates”:
Work that needs to be accomplished.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
Stops, yes it affects the meaning because dreams stop.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
Dreams are better than sleep. In the first stanza it represents this by, “Dream on, because dreams are sweet”. By saying, “…Tis the night is truth” they represented the meaning because in the night is when you sleep and when you sleep is when you dream. “There is a dream called love” which meant that you can dream anything you please. In the last stanza “Oh weep when you awakest” this meant that although dreams are great and to go to that place is great you have to wake up. I think this poem had to do with slavery because
We Wear the Mask
WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Questions:
1. What phrases are repeated?"We wear the mask"
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
"grins and lies"
"hides cheeks"
"shades eyes"
"torn and bleeding hearts"
"mouth with myriad subtleties"
"clay is vile"
3. Explain metaphors
"We wear the mask":
No he was not writing poetry about Halloween, he was writing about hiding your true feelings behind a face of untrue, forced emotions. Paul Dunbar was a African American born when slavery had ended, however he was treated still with very little respect, and basically treated as if he were born twenty years earlier. In this poem he explained his fear of showing himself to anyone, "We Wear the Mask" so that's what he did: wear the mask.
"Eyes":
Eyes are something that identify you from everyone else in this poem rather than something that helps you see.
4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
It rhymes, which almost gives it a rhythm. The rhythm does affect the meaning because it becomes more memorable, Example: "We wear that mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes."
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
The theme is hiding yourself, behind untrue forced emotions. In the first stanza, it represents this, "WE wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes."
In the second stanza it represents this, " Nay, let them only see us, while, We wear the mask."
In the third stanza it represents this, "We sing, but oh the clay is vile."
Sympathy Paul: Lawrence Dunbar
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,
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
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,
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 heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--
I know why the caged bird sings!
1. What phrases are repeated?
“I know what the caged bird feels” (2)
“I know why the caged bird beats his wing”(2)
“I know why the cage bird sings” (2)
2. What images (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory)?
“Sun is bright on the upland slopes”
“Wind stirs soft through the springing grass”
“River flows like stream of grass”
“cruel bars”
“Wing is bruised and bosom sore”
3. Explain metaphors.
Caged bird = someone/something locked up; held against their will
Old Scars = Someone had been hurt a long time ago and the scars had not heald.4. What rhythm or rhyme scheme does the poem have? How does this affect meaning?
It sounds like a chant. Yes it has an effective meaning because you remember what he said and what it was about.
5. What is the theme or message of the poem? Give text examples from each stanza
The message of the poem is irony, “I know how the caged bird feels” means like he puts himself in the position of being a caged bird like he is always being held against his will.
“I know why the caged bird beats his wing” is like saying that he understands why the bird will fight till he is out of the cage even if it means hurting himself. “I know why the caged bird sings” that is irony because obviously the bird had a terrible life however the bird managed to sing to make the best of what he had. In a way I feel this poem relates to slavery.
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