I Greet The Dawn

I am currently reading I Greet The Dawn,  Selected poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar. My wife read the book and loved his poems. I do also and like his dialect poems. I have taken a greater interest in Dunbar and his work. I'm planning on writing an essay about him. 

I first became acquainted with his work a few years ago. I wanted to read more African American poets so I stumbled upon his work. I purchased a small book of selected poems and I enjoyed his use of  English verse. At first, the dialect poetry was a struggle, having never read any work in that language. Dunbar never spoke dialect either but heard it from freed slaves. His sense of hearing and creating beautiful poetry using dialect is really amazing. 

Sadly, Dunbar wasn't given the recognition he deserve regarding his English verse. A few critics pigeon-holed him to the dialect poems, believing that the English verse wasn't his true voice. This really disturbed me because a writer should not be compartmentalized because of perceived notions or the prevailing work of that particular time period. No writer likes that. It's the reason I'll never criticize another author's work.  

Paul Laurence Dunbar is in my top five of favorite authors. His work is part of some English Literature curriculum in high school and college. Dunbar wrote novels, short stories, a play and essays. I highly recommend you read his beautiful poems.