Paul Laurence Dunbar uses a lot of variety of themes and tools to present his work. Some of the most remarkable themes are slavery and equality. His poetry is full of beautiful rhymes, metaphors and imagery. Besides of the variety of metaphors, rhymes and so on, his poetry are known because of his clever use of dialect making his work into an authentic relic. In his short time as a poet he became the most renamed African American who gains National recognition.

Many critics remarked that one of the many themes is the “Plantation Tradition.” Dunbar describes in his poems times in the past where the masters were kind and the slaves were happy. According to Wagner Jean in his book “Black Poets of the United States,” he states that Paul Dunbar had a tendency for happy scenes.  Some of the works are “A Corn Song” and the “Back-Log Song.” In the Corn Song, the master is setting by his house listening to his slave’s song. He can hear them coming from a hard day, but they are singing happily as they get back to their home. The master is proud of his crew. As for the Back-log song, there is an imagery of the master smiling upon his slaves who are happily enjoying Christmas.

Indeed he likes to write happy scenes, but he also like to write about the injustice and the fight for equality among his people.  One example is his poem “The Haunted Oak” where Dunbar personifies the oak to speak about the injustice made against an innocent black fellow charged and hung for rape. As he is charged by rape, he is hung in a branch of this oak. After this crime, the branch of the oak dies while its other branches keep flourishing as nothing had happened. He uses symbolism to magnify the crime so that everyone sees the wrong made. According to Wagner, Dunbar names the people who were involved in this crime: the doctor, the judge, and the pastor. Such as the follow “Oh, the judge, he wore a mask of black,/ And the doctor one of white,/ And the minister, with his oldest son,/ Was curiously bedight./” (Dunbar’s complete collection pg 356). Many people were delight for the connotation used in this poem to describe an atrocity made by malice and racism. Many others were not so happy about it and turn their faces. Paul Dunbar wanted to help his people, but at that time was hard since their new found freedom and citizen were not fully acknowledge by the majority of white people. Other examples are “We wear the mask,” “Sympathy,” and lot more.

Another aspect is the influence of romanticism in his work. He wrote many intense poems about love and passion. Some of the examples are “Longing” in which the character shares his thoughts with his lover and his need for her to be with him in a moment of stress or happiness. Another poem to take in account is “Love’s Apothesis” in which he describes his deep and unconditional love for her. “Love me. I care not what the circling years/To me may do. /If, but in spite of time and tears, / You prove me but true./(Dunbar’s complete collection pg141). It shows that although Paul Dunbar may seem as another diplomatic freak, he is also in truth a poet. He has a heart for everything in life in this case love.

Dunbar’s work is exceptional; it contains many themes as love, justice, and ideal past, not only that he also gives his heart in all his work. As someone point out, “Dunbar’s work is known for its colorful language and use of dialect, and a conventional tone, with a brilliant rhetorical structure.” (wikipedia 2) Critics love his work and African American seeks him as a model in modern days.

A Corn-Song

ON the wide veranda white,
In the purple failing light,
Sits the master while the sun is lowly
burning;
And his dreamy thoughts are drowned
In the softly flowing sound
Of the corn-songs of the field-hands slow
returning.

Oh, we hoe de co'n
Since de ehly mo'n;
Now de sinkin' sun
Says de day is done.

O'er the fields with heavy tread,
Light of heart and high of head,
Though the halting steps be labored, slow,
and weary;
Still the spirits brave and strong
Find a comforter in song,
And their corn-song rises ever loud and
cheery.

Love's Apotheosis

Love me. I care not what the circling years
To me may do.
If, but in spite of time and tears,
You prove but true.

Love me – albeit grief shall dim mine eyes,
And tears bedew,
I shall not e’en complain, for then my skies
Shall still be blue.

Love me – albeit grief shall dim mine eyes,
And tears bedew,
I shall not e’en complain, for then my skies
Shall still be blue.