Question

How did Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "sympathy", affect other artists and authors?

Answer 1

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African-American poet writing at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries the poem "Sympathy" was published in his 1899 collection Lyrics of the Hearthside. The bird's oppression represents the oppression of all African-Americans during this period. Paul Laurence Dunbar used the image of the locked up bird to express what it feels like to live without freedom; a situation then in which African Americans in America found themselves living in.

The poem inspired other African American Civil right fighters to use art and literature in expressing and speaking against the treatment of African Americans in white supremacist America.

Many notable writers and civil right activist like Maya Angelou for example relied on literature as a voice and as a form of subtle weapon rather than violence, embedding their messages within their literary works.

Answer 2

Paul Laurence Dunbar's work contributed in laying the foundation and setting the stage for the Harlem Renaissance of the 20's and 30's. His work was an inspiration and model to writers like James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes.

The Harlem Renaissance of the 20's and 30's resulted to an explosion in literary and cultural talent. It was something the nation hasn't seen before.

His poem, "Sympathy" contributed to inspire Mary Angelou in her autobiography titled "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"

Step-by-step explanation:

Paul Laurence Dunbar has been called the "poet laureate of his people" but he became a voice for all people. He was an African American struggling with the racism and oppression in his time.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an African-American poet who wrote at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.

"Sympathy" was a poem whose theme centered on racism and was published in Dunbar's 1899 collection Lyrics of the Hearthside. He uses caged bird in his poem.

It's likely that this poor bird's oppression was representing the oppression of all African-Americans during this period. The author of the poem uses the portrait of the locked up bird to give the readers a sense of what it feels like to live without freedom.