Sunday, December 28, 2008

Poetry; The Sparrow; by P.L.Dunbar;






THE SPARROW by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

A little bird, with plumage brown,
Beside my window flutters down,
A moment chirps its little strain,
Then taps upon my window-pane,

And chirps again, and hops along,

To call my notice to its song;
But I work on, nor heed its lay,
Till, in neglect, it flies away.
So birds of peace and hope and love
Come fluttering earthward from above,
To settle on life's window-sills,
And ease our load of earthly ills;
But we, in traffic's rush and din
Too deep engaged to let them in,
With deadened heart and sense plod on,
Nor know our loss till they are gone.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872, Dunbar penned a large body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels and short stories before he died at the age of 33. His work often addressed the difficulties encountered by members of his race and the efforts of African-Americans to achieve equality in America. He was praised both by the prominent literary critics of his time and his literary contemporaries.
Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872, to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar, both natives of Kentucky. His mother was a former slave and his father had escaped from slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Calvary Regiment during the Civil War.
To read more about P.L.Dunbar please click here

2 comments:

Sandra said...

What an interesting post! I truly hope that you are enjoying this beautiful, holiday time and that you are not frozen like we are :-). I wish you and your whole family all the best in New 2009 and may your all dreams and wishes come true! I'm really happy that I ran on you in this wide, virtual world.
Bye and greetings from Croatia.
Sandra

Gill - That British Woman said...

very interesting, and a lovely photo.

Gill in Canada