Dunbar and Pfouts' example paper

I had never before read anything by Dunbar...well, not that I recall, but I like his writing so much that I'm sure I would have asked to see who wrote such an interesting piece of literature.

"A Negro Love Song" was enjoyable to read and I want to memorize it so I can sing it while slapping my knees around the campfire during spring break--and everyone else can sing the " jump back, honey, jump back". I like to read things when they are written like they sound, so anything for dialects or accents are lovely. Not too much being said in this poem, though, besides gaiety (spelling?) and flirtations....

The rest of the poems, “We Wear the Mask.”, “The Poet.”, “The Poet and his Song.”, had some more meat to them and the thoughts shared on the class blog example paper sure helped me pay attention to the messages behind the words. I felt Dunbar had so much to say, like Pfouts said--something deeper and probably not as pretty so people wouldn't be likely to enjoy reading it. He hides his deeper feelings and views behind his "Mask" of a song and definitely mentions it in "The Poet and his Song". Here he says as long as he sings his song, the public will be good-tempered, so he will keep to himself that which will poke and stir up the public. so sad. I wonder what his writing would have been like if society back then were more like today...if he wasn't the one of the first or the first African-American to be payed for his poetry. I wonder if he would have let himself go a bit more. I'm sure I would have gobbled it up if he had. Very interesting man and i am surprised he died at such a young age, too.