Frederick Douglass

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1913

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

For his elegy of Douglass, Dunbar chose a more traditional form for his poem by writing it in iambic pentameter, but with “Frederick Douglass,” he deviates from the typical ABAB quatrain of the traditional elegiac stanza. The poem is composed of ten stanzas: The first nine stanzas are sestets (six lines), and the final stanza is an octave (eight lines). Written in iambic pentameter, the poem follows a traditional metric line that divides the line into five iambic feet, containing two syllables: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Take for example the first line of the poem, which like the rest is divided into five trochees:

“A hush | is ov- | er all | the tee- | ming lists,” (Line 1)

This familiar meter calls back to the conventions of the 18th-century elegiac stanza, which by the latter half of the 19th century, had become a form of the past as poets like Walt Whitman began pushing boundaries by composing elegies in a more contemporary free verse. However, Dunbar uses it here to eulogize his former mentor in a traditional and revered form, perhaps asserting that Douglass’s achievements should be revered and considered as monumental as those of the heroes of the dominant, Western culture of his time.

Rhyme Scheme and Sound

The rhyme scheme of the poem’s sestets follows ABABCC throughout the poem, with the final octave in stanza 10 expanding to a ABABCCDD rhyme scheme. Like a repeated refrain at the end of a hymn, this extended final stanza serves to draw out Dunbar’s personal address to Douglass, underscoring the impact of Douglass’s legacy on his race and the hopes Dunbar has for their ultimate liberation.

Dunbar occasionally uses alliteration within a stanza, to increase the rhythm and intensity of the verse, as the poem begins to pick up intensity with Douglass’s increasingly dramatic fight for equality. By stanza five, Douglass is actively fighting for the freedom of his race and taking on fierce opposition. The alliteration of Lines 27-28, for example, shines a light on the importance of these public debates, as well as what is at stake in the fight:

Nor feared to face the foeman's dread array,—

The lash of scorn, the sting of petty spites.

Fighting against the slave masters’ cruelty drove many to the abolitionist movement, which Dunbar recalls here in the sibilant and hissing sounds of the f’s and s’s in these lines.

Linguistic Register

Dunbar’s choice of writing in standard American English for Douglass’s more traditional elegy is significant when included in a collection of poems that are written in both standard American English and dialect. The choice of standard American English seems to dovetail with the common theme of Douglass’s legacy, who argued that African Americans were not only intellectually capable of governing themselves, but with education could master and excel in areas of society and government that were—until recently—only open to white Americans. Thus, adopting a western elegiac form with the iambic pentameter, coupled with standard American English, Dunbar’s choice of linguistic register signals that Douglass’s legacy is worthy of inclusion among the heroic accomplishments in Western history. However, whether intended or not, in later decades, Dunbar’s work fell out of favor for that same reason. Much as Booker T. Washington’s legacy was seen as too accommodating to white supremacy, many felt these choices to write in dialect or standard American English reinforced the perceived inferiority of Black voices that did not conform to Western (white) culture, and which were constructed through the history of slavery.