THE COMPLETE POEMS
OF
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO
"LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE"
BY
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
PRINTED IN U. S. A.
DEDICATIONS
LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE
TO
MY MOTHER
LYRICS OF THE HEARTHSIDE
TO
ALICE
LYRICS OF LOVE AND LAUGHTER
TO
MISS CATHERINE IMPEY
LYRICS OF SUNSHINE AND SHADOW
TO
MRS. FRANK CONOVERWITH THANKS FOR HER LONG BELIEF
INTRODUCTION TO LYRICS OF LOWLY LIFE
I think I should scarcely troublethe reader with a special appealin behalf of this book, if it hadnot specially appealed to me forreasons apart from the author'srace, origin, and condition. Theworld is too old now, and I findmyself too much of its mood, tocare for the work of a poet becausehe is black, because his father andmother were slaves, because hewas, before and after he beganto write poems, an elevator-boy.These facts would certainly attractme to him as a man, if I knewhim to have a literary ambition,but when it came to his literaryart, I must judge it irrespective ofthese facts, and enjoy or endure itfor what it was in itself.
It seems to me that this was myexperience with the poetry of PaulLaurence Dunbar when I foundit in another form, and in justiceto him I cannot wish that it shouldbe otherwise with his readers here.Still, it will legitimately interestthose who like to know the causes,or, if these may not be known, thesources, of things, to learn that thefather and mother of the first poetof his race in our language werenegroes without admixture of whiteblood. The father escaped fromslavery in Kentucky to freedom inCanada, while there was still nohope of freedom otherwise; butthe mother was freed by the eventsof the civil war, and came Northto Ohio, where their son was bornat Dayton, and grew up with suchchances and mischances for mentaltraining as everywhere befall thechildren of the poor. He has toldme that his father picked up thetrade of a plasterer, and when hehad taught himself to read, lovedchiefly to read history. The boy'smother shared his passion forliterature, with a special love ofpoetry, and after the father diedshe struggled on in more than thepoverty she had shared with him.She could value the faculty whichher son showed first in prosesketches and attempts at fiction,and she was proud of the praiseand kindness they won him amongthe people of the town, where hehas never been without the warmestand kindest friends.
In fact from every part of Ohioand from several cities of the adjoiningStates, there came lettersin cordial appreciation of the criticalrecognition which it was mypleasure no less than my duty tooffer Paul Dunbar's work in anotherplace. It seemed to me ahappy omen for him that so manypeople who had known him, orknown of him, were glad of astranger's good word; and it wasgra