He pondered the existence of "the eternal bending skies" in "The Mystery" and notes that he has been given the gift of song by two masters, though one has infinite mercy, in "Compensation."
He pondered the existence of "the eternal bending skies" in "The Mystery" and notes that he has been given the gift of song by two masters, though one has infinite mercy, in "Compensation." The Keatsian "A Summer's Night" was less popular than his "Song of Summer" which begins "Dis is gospel weatha- fo sho," marking his debt to writers like Thomas Nelson Page [*] and James Whitcomb Riley. Not usually overtly political his "The Colored Soldiers" celebrated black participation in the Civil War, while the last stanza of "Sympathy" begins with the famous line "I know why the caged bird sings." All of these works can be found in the poetry collections Oak and Ivy and Majors and Minors. FTP identify this author who also wrote novels like The Uncalled and Sport of the Gods, but was most famous for his dialect inflected Lyrics of Lowly Life.
He pondered the existence of "the eternal bending skies" in "The Mystery" and notes that he has been given the gift of song by two masters, though one has infinite mercy, in "Compensation."
Paul Laurence {Dunbar}