ipl-logo

How Does Double Voice Affect Paul Laurence Dunbar's Writing

505 Words3 Pages

Certain poets and authors have certain traits about their work that become a staple for their writing. This could be clever use of words, skillful sentence structure, or elaborate imagery; but Paul Laurence Dunbar has a very particular skill that allowed his writing and poetry to encapsulate several different meanings and lessons. This skill has become known as “Double Voice.” Writing in double voice meant that Paul Laurence Dunbar was able to write in dialect form as well as Standard English. The dialect which he wrote in was something similar to an old African American southern dialect. This allowed his work to embody a different message and cause the reader to observe his works from a different view.
Overall double voice best assisted Paul Laurence Dunbar writing about topics that would get him in a lot of trouble if he wrote in Standard English. During the times of his writings, America was still very much a …show more content…

“When Malindy Sings” and “We Wear the Mask” are two popular poems written by Dunbar. Each touch on difficulties he and other African Americans face every day. However, “When Malindy Sings” is written in dialect, while “We Wear the Mask” is not. When looking at each poem, “We Wear the Mask” has to hide the true meaning of the poem beneath beautiful word play and descriptive word play. This important to note because only the African American community would understand the true underlying message of false contentment. Then when we look at “When Malindy Sings” the message is much clearer. Because it is written in dialect, Dunbar is able to write jokes and insults that would otherwise get him arrested, maybe even killed, during the time. The poem emphasizes how exceptionally better a possible slave, Malindy, is at singing compared to her owner, Miss Lucy, even though Malindy was an untrained field slave and Miss Lucy practiced her singing off a

Show More
Related
430 Words | 2 Pages

In the poems "London, 1802" and "Douglass", although written 100 years apart, they described freedom fighters that fought for justice and equality. Although, the poems differ int he way they are structured and the style that they are written in, both poems were able to commemorate these politcical figures for their important contributions in unique and difficult situations. At first glance, the poems written by Wordworth and Dunbar have many similarities in structure and organization. Both of the poems start off with commemoration of important figures in the past, describe the source of trouble and the poems both end with highlights of the two freedom fighter 's characteristics. The similariteies between the two extend beyond stucture, it goes onto the imagery also.

Read More
1271 Words | 6 Pages

In the poem, Johnson’s use of inclusive words like “we”, “our” and “us”, fused with anaphoras in each stanza, allow him to address black Americans in the north and south. Johnson uses phrases like “Let us”, “Let our”, and“We have come”, “Keep us”, and “Lest our” to unify black America and build community and culture shattered by American racism and prejudice. Without a strong foundation, how could black America improve from its “Bitter”, “Stony”, “dark”, “weary”, and “gloomy” past? Johnson’s inclusive word choice forces a shared experience among black Americans, making the issues at hand a national issue and not exclusively a southern one; hence Black Americans had to work together to reach “the white gleam” of “victory”. Johnson’s appeals to black America are further extended in his pleas for strengthening faith and progress for black Americans as well;

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

This use of vernacular can inspire empathy, while still keeping the truth within the art. Hughes has a much more subtle, and easy to understand, way of using vernacular within his poem Mother To Son, while Hurston has a much more intense way of using colloquial speech in her character’s dialogue within Sweat. In fact, at times the story is difficult to read, one may even need to read the dialogue aloud in order to understand the colloquial speech. After reading through, or reading aloud, one begins to pick up on the heavy accents that are attributed through the different ways of spelling. Such as “Ah” instead of I

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

Such personification mirrors Dunbar’s use of figurative language, which relates the poems in more ways than one. Dunbar touches on human features such as cheeks and eyes in his poem but also uses a spiritual element to advance his point of view. Furthermore, “We Wear the Mask” was written in 1896; a period in American history that was post-slavery but still had widespread discrimination. The spiritual connotation within Dunbar’s poem can allude to African American churches and/or the hymns slaves sung on plantations. Nevertheless, the struggle of African Americans is a symbol of both presented

Read More
1218 Words | 5 Pages

In Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” the speaker wears a mask to hide his internal suffering because he does not want the rest of the world to think he is weak. This poem relates the prejudice black people face against white people. The speaker starts the poem with the lines, “We wear the mask that grins and lies,” (1). Here he describes the kind of “masks” that he wears.

Read More
412 Words | 2 Pages

In his essay, James Baldwin makes a convincing argument about Black English and how it is a language of its own. Baldwin uses a lot of logic to support his claim. He is a credible author on this subject because of his background, experience with the Civil Rights movement and experience living in America and France. Because of Baldwin’s set up of arguments, and great credibility, his essay has a better flow to it. One thing that Baldwin does is, He supports his claim by saying that there can be many versions of a "general" language depending on the region where it is spoken.

Read More
1264 Words | 6 Pages

In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass and Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, African Americans within the texts are often unable to communicate their pain and sorrow

Read More
519 Words | 3 Pages

When I read Holes I realized that Stanley Yanlnets is similar to Jess Aarons from Bridge to teribithea! I will compare and contrast Jesse Aarons from the book Bridge to Teribithea (author Katherine Paterson) and Stanley Yalnets from Holes ( author Louis Sachar.) Jesse Aarons and Stanley Yalnets while different in many ways share some similarities in their personalities. Firstly, Jesse and Stanley's family lives are extremely different.

Read More
681 Words | 3 Pages

Beside his word choice, Dunbar connects the reader thanks to literary devices. We can notice an alliteration in -m in line 5, with the words “mouth” and “myriad” (Dunbar, l. 5). This alliteration emphasizes these words, and, as a consequence, the word “subtleties”, which follows “myriad” (Dunbar, l. 5). We can also notice the allusion to the Christian religion, with the reference to the “Christ” (Dunbar, l. 10). It reflects the theme perfectly, because the Christ suffered a lot, especially when he carried his cross, but he never failed to show his pain, hiding his suffering.

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

In Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy” there is end rhyme present but no real rhyme scheme. Those are some of the rhythmic elements Dunbar uses in his writing. Dunbar writes his poems on very serious matters, such as life and dreams and identity. In his poem “We Wear the Mask” Dunbar writes about people wearing masks but the true meaning of the poem is how people will try to hide their identity to look like a better more perfect person. In his poem “Life” dunbar writes about how life is not always good and at t8imes life seems to be really bad.

Read More
1409 Words | 6 Pages

Langston Hughes poems “Harlem” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” are two poems that have a deeper meaning than a reader may notice. Hughes 's poem “Harlem” incorporates the use of similes to make a reader focus on the point Hughes is trying to make. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes shows how close he was to the rivers on a personal level. With those two main focuses highlighted throughout each poem, it creates an intriguing idea for a reader to comprehend. In these particular poems, Hughes’s use of an allusion, imagery, and symbolism in each poem paints a clear picture of what Hughes wants a reader to realize.

Read More
886 Words | 4 Pages

In a world full of many authors, three have outlived most with their amazing style of writing. They are Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and O. Henry. Although the world has changed greatly in the past 100 years, these authors are still considered excellent. Their unique writing styles have helped them withstand the test of time. Mark Twain used regional dialect, O. Henry used clever wordcraft, and John Steinbeck used social commentary.

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

The poem I, Too, Sing America written by Langston Hughes shortly after World War II in 1945, is a lyrical poem about the neglected voices in America as a response to the Poem “I hear America singing.” During this time, African Americans were oppressed in society and they did not have equal rights to Caucasians. This poem expresses Langston Hughes hope for the future where black people are not oppressed when equality is achieved between races. This poem helps assert Langston Hughes’ ideas of racial pride, hope, and equality. Many black people fought in the war and after it ended, they still did not have equality, which caused questions of why they were not equal if they fought against another country.

Read More
409 Words | 2 Pages

In contrary though, they sometimes write about matters happening around them. The poet Terrance Hayes from South Carolina, has a very literal poem called “Talk”. The poem “Talk”, is about a young African American boy in middle school. This boy is on his school’s basketball team.

Read More
323 Words | 2 Pages

The main theme of the poem is centered on the masks that we wear in society, but the poem digs deeper than the simple statement, ‘we all wear masks’. Teasdale presents the insight that when we are walking on the sidewalk, surrounded by the chaos of the streets, we delve into our own thoughts and the mask lifts. Because we are among strangers rather than coworkers, family, or peers, we do

Read More

More about How Does Double Voice Affect Paul Laurence Dunbar's Writing

Related Topics

Open Document