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Commentator: William Dean Howells

THE COMPLETE POEMS

PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO "LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"

W. D. HOWELLS

NEW YORK

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1922

Copyright 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905 BY THE CENTURY CO.

Copyright 1897, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905 BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING CO.

Copyright 1898 BY THE OUTLOOK CO.

Copyright 1898 BY J. B. WALKER

Copyright 1903 BY W. H. GANNETT

Copyright 1896, 1899, 1903, 1905, 1913 BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY

DEDICATIONS

LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

MY MOTHER

LYRICS OF THE HEARTHSIDE

ALICE

LYRICS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER

MISS CATHERINE IMPEY

LYRICS OF SUNSHINE AND SHADOW

MRS. FRANK CONOVER WITH THANKS FOR HER LONG BELIEF

INTRODUCTION TO LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE

I think I should scarcely trouble the reader with a special appeal in behalf of this book, if it had not specially appealed to me for reasons apart from the author's race, origin, and condition. The world is too old now, and I find myself too much of its mood, to care for the work of a poet because he is black, because his father and mother were slaves, because he was, before and after he began to write poems, an elevator-boy. These facts would certainly attract me to him as a man, if I knew him to have a literary ambition, but when it came to his literary art, I must judge it irrespective of these facts, and enjoy or endure it for what it was in itself.

It seems to me that this was my experience with the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar when I found it in another form, and in justice to him I cannot wish that it should be otherwise with his readers here. Still, it will legitimately interest those who like to know the causes, or, if these may not be known, the sources, of things, to learn that the father and mother of the first poet of his race in our language were negroes without admixture of white blood. The father escaped from slavery in Kentucky to freedom in Canada, while there was still no hope of freedom otherwise; but the mother was freed by the events of the civil war, and came North to Ohio, where their son was born at Dayton, and grew up with such chances and mischances for mental training as everywhere befall the children of the poor. He has told me that his father picked up the trade of a plasterer, and when he had taught himself to read, loved chiefly to read history. The boy's mother shared his passion for literature, with a special love of poetry, and after the father died she struggled on in more than the poverty she had shared with him. She could value the faculty which her son showed first in prose sketches and attempts at fiction, and she was proud of the praise and kindness they won him among the people of the town, where he has never been without the warmest and kindest friends.

In fact from every part of Ohio and from several cities of the adjoining States, there came letters in cordial appreciation of the critical recognition which it was my pleasure no less than my duty to offer Paul Dunbar's work in another place. It seemed to me a happy omen for him that so many people who had known him, or known of him, were glad of a stranger's good word; and it was gratifying to see that at home he was esteemed for the things he had done rather than because as the son of negro slaves he had done them. If a prophet is often without honor in his own country, it surely is nothing against him when he has it. In this case it deprived me of the glory of a discoverer; but that is sometimes a barren joy, and I am always willing to forego it.

What struck me in reading Mr. Dunbar's poetry was what had already struck his friends in Ohio and Indiana, in Kentucky and Illinois. They had felt, as I felt, that however gifted his race had proven itself in music, in oratory, in several of the other arts, here was the first instance of an American negro who had evinced innate distinction in literature. In my criticism of his book I had alleged Dumas in France, and I had forgetfully failed to allege the far greater Pushkin in Russia; but these were both mulattoes, who might have been supposed to derive their qualities from white blood vastly more artistic than ours, and who were the creatures of an environment more favorable to their literary development. So far as I could remember, Paul Dunbar was the only man of pure African blood and of American civilization to feel the negro life aesthetically and express it lyrically. It seemed to me that this had come to its most modern consciousness in him, and that his brilliant and unique achievement was to have studied the American negro objectively, and to have represented him as he found him to be, with humor, with sympathy, and yet with what the reader must instinctively feel to be entire truthfulness. I said that a race which had come to this effect in any member of it, had attained civilization in him, and I permitted myself the imaginative prophecy that the hostilities and the prejudices which had so long constrained his race were destined to vanish in the arts; that these were to be the final proof that God had made of one blood all nations of men. I thought his merits positive and not comparative; and I held that if his black poems had been written by a white man, I should not have found them less admirable. I accepted them as an evidence of the essential unity of the human race, which does not think or feel, black in one and white in another, but humanly in all.

Yet it appeared to me then, and it appears to me now, that there is a precious difference of temperament between the races which it would be a great pity ever to lose, and that this is best preserved and most charmingly suggested by Mr. Dunbar in those pieces of his where he studies the moods and traits of his race in its own accent of our English. We call such pieces dialect pieces for want of some closer phrase, but they are really not dialect so much as delightful personal attempts and failures for the written and spoken language. In nothing is his essentially refined and delicate art so well shown as in these pieces, which, as I ventured to say, described the range between appetite and emotion, with certain lifts far beyond and above it, which is the range of the race. He reveals in these a finely ironical perception of the negro's limitations, with a tenderness for them which I think so very rare as to be almost quite new. I should say, perhaps, that it was this humorous quality which Mr. Dunbar had added to our literature, and it would be this which would most distinguish him, now and hereafter. It is something that one feels in nearly all the dialect pieces; and I hope that in the present collection he has kept all of these in his earlier volume, and added others to them. But the contents of this book are wholly of his own choosing, and I do not know how much or little he may have preferred the poems in literary English. Some of these I thought very good, and even more than very good, but not distinctively his contribution to the body of American poetry. What I mean is that several people might have written them; but I do not know any one else at present who could quite have written the dialect pieces. These are divinations and reports of what passes in the hearts and minds of a lowly people whose poetry had hitherto been inarticulately expressed in music, but now finds, for the first time in our tongue, literary interpretation of a very artistic completeness.

I say the event is interesting, but how important it shall be can be determined only by Mr. Dunbar's future performance. I cannot undertake to prophesy concerning this; but if he should do nothing more than he has done, I should feel that he had made the strongest claim for the negro in English literature that the negro has yet made. He has at least produced something that, however we may critically disagree about it, we cannot well refuse to enjoy; in more than one piece he has produced a work of art.

W. D. HOWELLS.

INDEX OF TITLES

ABSENCE 93 ACCOUNTABILITY 5 ADVICE 250 AFTER A VISIT 42 AFTER MANY DAYS 267 AFTER THE QUARREL 40 AFTER WHILE 53 ALEXANDER CRUMMELL--DEAD 113 ALICE 40 ANCHORED 256 ANGELINA 138 ANTE-BELLUM SERMON, AN 13 APPRECIATION 247 AT CANDLE-LIGHTIN' TIME 155 AT CHESHIRE CHEESE 129 AT LOAFING-HOLT 263 AT NIGHT 254 AT SUNSET TIME 263 AT THE TAVERN 226 AWAKENING, THE 252

BACK-LOG SONG, A 143 BALLAD 58 BALLADE 204 BANJO SONG, A 20 BARRIER, THE 99 BEHIND THE ARRAS 94 BEIN' BACK HOME 259 BEYOND THE YEARS 41 BLACK SAMSON OF BRANDYWINE 205 BLUE 253 BOHEMIAN, THE 92 BOOGAH MAN, THE 185 BOOKER T. WASHINGTON 209 BORDER BALLAD, A 48 BOYS' SUMMER SONG, A 235 BREAKING THE CHARM 149 BRIDAL MEASURE, A 97 BY RUGGED WAYS 215 BY THE STREAM 50

CABIN TALE, A 153 CAPTURE, THE 275 CAREER, A 285 CHANGE HAS COME, THE 58 CHANGE, THE 258 CHANGING TIME 72 CHASE, THE 258 CHOICE, A 125 CHRISTMUS IS A-COMIN' 153 CHRISTMAS ON THE PLANTATION 137 CHRISTMAS 269 CHRISTMAS CAROL 278 CHRISTMAS FOLKSONG, A 236 CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART 105 CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES 261 COLORED BAND, THE 178 COLORED SOLDIERS, THE 50 COLUMBIAN ODE 47 COMMUNION 110 COMPARISON 59 COMPENSATION 256 CONFESSIONAL 116 CONFIDENCE, A 73 CONQUERORS, THE 112 CONSCIENCE AND REMORSE 31 COQUETTE CONQUERED, A 62 CORN-SONG, A 59 CORN-STALK FIDDLE, THE 16 CRISIS, THE 111 CURIOSITY 241 CURTAIN 42

DANCE, THE 170 DAT OL' MARE O' MINE 189 DAWN 65 DAY 248 DEACON JONES' GRIEVANCE 39 DEAD 73 DEATH 227 DEATH OF THE FIRST BORN, THE 258 DEATH SONG, A 142 DEBT, THE 213 DE CRITTERS' DANCE 181 DELINQUENT, THE 64 DELY 148 DESERTED PLANTATION, THE 67 DESPAIR 261 DE WAY T'INGS COME 225 DIFFERENCES 192 DILETTANTE, THE: A MODERN TYPE 49 DINAH KNEADING DOUGH 188 DIPLOMACY 238 DIRGE 66 DIRGE FOR A SOLDIER 199 DISAPPOINTED 60 DISCOVERED 60 DISCOVERY, THE 251 DISTINCTION 114 DISTURBER, THE 131 DOUGLASS 208 DOVE, THE 167 DREAM SONG I 104 DREAM SONG II 104 DREAMER, THE 100 DREAMIN' TOWN 254 DREAMS 100 DREAMS 166 DRIZZLE 180 DROWSY DAY, A 65

EASY-GOIN' FELLER, AN 49 ENCOURAGED 238 ENCOURAGEMENT 184 END OF THE CHAPTER, THE 101 EQUIPMENT 276 ERE SLEEP COMES DOWN TO SOOTHE THE WEARY EYES 3 EVENING 276 EXPECTATION 131

FAITH 244 FAREWELL TO ARCADY 123 FARM CHILD'S LULLABY, THE 245 FISHER CHILD'S LULLABY, THE 244 FISHING 172 FLORIDA NIGHT, A 191 FOOLIN' WID DE SEASONS 139 FOR THE MAN WHO FAILS 118 FOREST GREETING, THE 237 FOREVER 240 FOUNT OF TEARS, THE 224 FREDERICK DOUGLASS 6 FROLIC, A 200 FROM THE PORCH AT RUNNYMEDE 275

GARRET, THE 96 GOLDEN DAY, A 251 GOOD-NIGHT 61 GOURD, THE 107 GRIEVANCE, A 188 GROWIN' GRAY 80

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 119 HAUNTED OAK, THE 219 HE HAD HIS DREAM 61 HER THOUGHT AND HIS 93 HOPE 247 HOW LUCY BACKSLID 158 HOW SHALL I WOO THEE 289 "HOWDY, HONEY, HOWDY!" 196 HUNTING SONG 150 HYMN 66 HYMN 133 HYMN, A 98

IF 75 IONE 31 IN AN ENGLISH GARDEN 111 IN AUGUST 130 IN MAY 166 IN SUMMER 91 IN SUMMER TIME 280 IN THE MORNING 190 IN THE TENDS OF AKBAR 223 INSPIRATION 179 INVITATION TO LOVE 61 ITCHING HEELS 222

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 287 JEALOUS 145 JILTED 136 JOGGIN' ERLONG 165 JOHNNY SPEAKS 235 JUST WHISTLE A BIT 98

KEEP A-PLUGGIN' AWAY 46 KEEP A SONG UP ON DE WAY 169 KIDNAPED 255 KING IS DEAD, THE 105 KNIGHT, THE 108

LAPSE, THE 122 LAWYERS' WAYS, THE 22 LAZY DAY, THE 249 LESSON, THE 8 LETTER, A 151 LIFE 8 LIFE'S TRAGEDY 225 LI'L' GAL 207 LILY OF THE VALLEY, THE 237 LIMITATIONS 250 LINCOLN 184 LITTLE BROWN BABY 134 LITTLE CHRISTMAS BASKET, A 174 LITTLE LUCY LANDMAN 107 LIZA MAY 267 LONESOME 79 LONG AGO 192 'LONG TO'DS NIGHT 187 LONGING 21 LOOKING-GLASS, THE 206 LOST DREAM, A 270 LOVE 103 LOVE AND GRIEF 102 LOVE DESPOILED 122 LOVE LETTER, A 266 LOVE-SONG 210 LOVE SONG, A 222 LOVER AND THE MOON, THE 29 LOVER'S LANE 132 LOVE'S APOTHEOSIS 89 LOVE'S CASTLE 201 LOVE'S DRAFT 252 LOVE'S HUMILITY 106 LOVE'S PHASES 117 LOVE'S PICTURES 282 LOVE'S SEASONS 215 LULLABY 144 LYRIC, A 288

MADRIGAL, A 287 MARE RUBRUM 110 MASTER-PLAYER THE 17 MASTERS, THE 258 MEADOW LARK, THE 71 MELANCHOLIA 54 MEMORY OF MARTHA, THE 194 MERRY AUTUMN 56 MISTY DAY, A 207 MISAPPREHENSION 117 MONK'S WALK, THE 209 MORNING 252 MORNING SONG OF LOVE 202 MORTALITY 103 MY CORN-COB PIPE 129 MY LADY OF CASTLE GRAND 180 MY LITTLE MARCH GIRL 120 MY SORT O' MAN 140 MY SWEET BROWN GAL 176 MYSTERY, THE 17 MYSTIC SEA, THE 91 MURDERED LOVER, THE 211 MUSICAL, A 253

NATURE AND ART 52 NEGRO LOVE SONG, A 49 NEWS, THE 136 NIGHT 263 NIGHT, DIM NIGHT 227 NIGHT OF LOVE 46 NODDIN' BY DE FIRE 201 NOON 226 NORA: A SERENADE 62 NOT THEY WHO SOAR 18 NUTTING SONG 282

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