A New Kind of Literary Pulse

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Classics 19th Century African American Literature  2 min

The Haunted Oak

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an American poet, novelist and playwright whose reputation was based on his verses and short stories written in black dialect. He is known as the first African American writer who tried to live off of his writings. Dunbar was also one of the first black authors to gain national fame and international reputation in the United States.

Pray why are you so bare, so bare, Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;And why, when I go through the shade you throw, Runs a shudder over me? My leaves were green as the best, I trow, And sap ran free in my veins,But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird A guiltless victim's pains. I bent me down to hear his sigh; I shook with his gurgling moan,And I trembled sore when they rode away, And left him here alone. They'd charged him with the old, old crime, And set him fast in jail:Oh, why does the dog howl all night long, And why does the night wind wail? He prayed his prayer and he