Themes And Means Of Sympathy, By Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872 and died February 9, 1906. Dunbar was born during the time of slavery, and although his parents were freed slaves, no opportunity opened up for Dunbar until the 20th century when he published Majors and Minors. Since there was no opportunity for Dunbar, he could not afford to go to college, so he relied on his poetry. Dunbar was the first African American to get national recognition and became one of the first influential African American poets in American Literature. In 1897, Paul accepted a job as a research assistant at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. However, his health deteriorated as his literary success grew, and he soon left this job in 1899. When Dunbar left the Library, he

“Sympathy” is the feeling of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortunes. Dunbar attempted to make a life for himself, but was shut down because of the color of his skin. When things got tough, Dunbar turned to poetry. By the time that the poem had been written in 1897, Dunbar had been rejected from more jobs that he was hired. The toll that the racially prejudice society in America, at the time, left Dunbar in a state of loneliness and unwanted which is reflected in the lines I know why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars / For he must fly back to his perch and cling.” He never gave up and kept trying to make it in life with all of the circumstances against him. “I hate this feeling. You know, feeling unimportant and unwanted is the worst feeling ever.” (unknown) Dunbar’s poem reflects the toll that he is not wanted in the society that he was born into, and the emptiness in his heart that a person feels when they have reached the breaking