Understanding Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Life and Career in Context

William Dean Howells;The Gilded Age;African-American poetry;Paul Laurence Dunbar;racism;dialect poetry

Gilroy, Joseph William ; Dr. Anne Baker, Committee Chair,Dr. Sheila Smith-McKoy, Committee Member,Dr. Carmine Prioli, Committee Member,Gilroy, Joseph William ; Dr. Anne Baker ; Committee Chair ; Dr. Sheila Smith-McKoy ; Committee Member ; Dr. Carmine Prioli ; Committee Member

University:North Carolina State University

关键词: William Dean Howells;    The Gilded Age;    African-American poetry;    Paul Laurence Dunbar;    racism;    dialect poetry;   

Others  :  https://repository.lib.ncsu.edu/bitstream/handle/1840.16/1340/etd.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: null

【 摘 要 】

Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most popular poets of his day. He was highly regarded for his black dialect poetry, which earned him the title, "poet laureate of his race." Dunbar's second book of poetry, Majors and Minors, was even reviewed by the famous critic William Dean Howells. However, despite Dunbar's popularity, he has also been widely criticized for his black dialect poetry. Many scholars and African-Americans have argued that it is an unsympathetic portrait of blackness meant to appease his paying white readership. This thesis discusses the conditions and circumstances that influenced Dunbar to write black dialect poetry. It places the poet's life and career in the social, economic, and critical context of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. My research concludes that Dunbar's intentions for his dialect poetry were misconstrued by William Dean Howells' racially-biased interpretation of Majors and Minors.