Overview

About this book

This posthumous collection ranges across love, labour, nature, freedom, performance and racial injustice. Dunbar wrote both in Standard English and in dialect; the dialect poems should be read within histories of Black speech, minstrelsy, audience expectation and artistic agency.

First published: 1913
Language: English
Editor: William Dean Howells (introductory commentary)
Copyright status: Public domain
Source edition: Project Gutenberg ebook #18338

English level

B2–C1 · Deep reading

The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar is calibrated from 42,035 sampled words across 32 chapters: sentences average 24.9 words, 40.2% exceed 24 words and 2% of words are nine letters or longer.

Explore the B2–C1 level →

Sentence rhythm

What the prose asks

Extended sentences averaging 24.9 words, with 11.6% reaching 40 words or more

Vocabulary

What may slow you down

2% of sampled words contain nine or more letters and about 8.4 marked archaic terms per thousand words; names and period vocabulary still vary by chapter

Reading rhythm

Medium commitment

Many short stopping points support flexible sessions. About 17 calm 30-minute sessions.

Suggested approach

Read with momentum

Read in planned sessions and keep short notes on voice, structure and recurring images

Best starting point

Begin with chapter one

The full text is ready with speech, lookup and saved progress.

Table of contents

32 chapters

Related author

Paul Laurence Dunbar

An American poet, novelist and performer whose work in Standard English and dialect made him one of the first nationally prominent Black American writers.

Open author profile →

Related books

Continue through a connected subject, form or historical question.

Continue with Poetry

The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Poetry · B2–C1 · 36 hr

Start Reading

A shorter route through Poetry

Aurora Leigh

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Poetry · B2–C1 · 8 hr

Start Reading

A shorter route through Poetry

The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems

William Morris

Poetry · B2–C1 · 3 hr

Start Reading

A shorter route through Poetry

Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë

Poetry · B2–C1 · 3 hr

Start Reading