|
|
Article: "When he is least himself": Dunbar and double consciousness in African American poetry.(Paul Laurence Dunbar)
- Article from:
- African American Review
- Article date:
- June 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 African American Review. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Like Paul Laurence Dunbar, and like many people who don't even consider themselves to be poets, I began writing poetry as a child. Although Dunbar was not a poet I tried to emulate when I wrote my first poems, and although he is not among my consciously chosen ancestor poets, he certainly contributed to my poetic inheritance. I recognize now that his poetry was an influence so pervasive in my upbringing that I never felt the need to claim him as my own.
I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas--one of the cities with a Dunbar High School, although neither I nor anyone in my family attended it. (1) My grandparents and my parents were schooled in Dunbar's poetry, a perennial ...