Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN MEMORIAM: PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, by HENRIETTA CORDELIA RAY Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: The muse of poetry came down one day Last Line: That fame's immortal wreath has crowned his brow. Alternate Author Name(s): Ray, Cordelia Subject(s): Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906) | ||||||||
The Muse of Poetry came down one day, And brought with willing hands a rare, sweet gift; She lingered near the cradle of a child, Who first unto the sun his eyes did lift. She touched his lips with true Olympian fire, And at her bidding Fancies hastened there, To flutter lovingly around the one So favored by the Muse's gentle care. Who was this child? The offspring of a race That erst had toiled 'neath slavery's galling chains. And soon he woke to utterance and sang In sweetly cadenced and in stirring strains, Of simple joys, and yearnings, and regrets; Anon to loftier themes he turned his pen; For so in tender, sympathetic mood He caught the follies and the griefs of men. His tones were various: we list, and lo! "Malindy Sings," and as the echoes die, The keynote changes and another strain Of solemn majesty goes floating by; And sometimes in the beauty and the grace Of an impassioned, melancholy lay, We seem to hear the surge, and swell, and moan Of soft orchestral music far away. Paul Dunbar dead! His genius cannot die! It lives in songs that thrill, and glow, and soar; Their pathos and their joy will fill our hearts, And charm and satisfy e'en as of yore. So when we would lament our poet gone, With sorrow that his lyre is resting now, Let us remember, with the fondest pride, That Fame's immortal wreath has crowned his brow. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR by JAMES DAVID CORROTHERS EPITAPH: FOR PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR by COUNTEE CULLEN PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR by ROBERT EARL HAYDEN ME 'N' DUNBAR by JAMES DAVID CORROTHERS ANSWER TO DUNBAR'S 'AFTER A VISIT' by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER SR. FOR PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR by LINDA CARTER BROWN HISTORIC EPISODES by PETER WELLINGTON CLARK EPITAPH: FOR PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR by COUNTEE CULLEN AFTER THE STORM by HENRIETTA CORDELIA RAY |
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