Paul Dunbar: An Ante-bellum Sermon Analysis

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Paul Dunbar
I like Paul Dunbar’s vernacular verse or poems as opposed to the ones in Standard English. The vernacular poems offer a more authentic voice of the black people and their plight (Cohen 248). For example, in the poem “An Ante-bellum Sermon” Dunbar uses unconventional spellings and usage of words to generate an accurate, as well as believable picture of the real people he knew and lived within the community. For example, he writes, “But I tell you, fellah christuns, Things'll happen mighty strange; Now, de Lawd done dis fu' Isrul, An' his ways don't nevah change” (Dunbar and Joanne 14). Here he is telling the black community in a language that they can understand that they should not despair, because a brighter day will soon come. This is unlike his poem, “The Poet,” which is short and does not offer a detailed account about the life of the poet. Though it highlights the life of the Poet, it does not go beyond that.
            In a similar way, the vernacular poem “Little Brown Baby” explores in detail the innocence of a black child before learning of the cruel world. The speaker in the poem has concerns for the future of his young son saying, “Let’s th’ow him outen de do’ in de san’” (Dunbar and Joanne 134). This means the baby’s life may not remain joyful as it is now in his childhood something that many black people feared for their children’s future. The poem succeeds in showing the value of family life within the black community. Similarly, in “Philosophy,” the poem shows Dunbar’s mastery in v