n one particular of excellency
he is first of all four. His "Rape of Florida" is truly poetry and as
a _sustained effort_, as an attempt _in great lines_, it surpasses in
true merit anything yet done by a Negro, and this assertion without
one qualifying word. He failed as a poet? Certainly. Mr. Whitman made
attempts in lines in which Shelley, Keats and Spenser triumphed, and
with such mediocrity only possible to him in such a highway, what else
could follow beyond a passing notice, though his "Rape of Florida" is
a production of much more than passing merit. Aside from the
mediocrity of the work attempted in Spenserian lines the man himself
in his lack of learning, in his expressible egotism, was derogatory
to his ultimate success, and his styling himself as the William Cullen
Bryant of the Negro race was sickening in the extreme. Mr. Whitman
died recently, but not before he had done all in literary excellence
that could be hoped from him. It remains true, however, that he was
worthy of a much better place than is accorded him as a Negro poet,
and it is to be regretted that his work is so little known among us.

Ten years after Mr. Whitman, Paul Dunbar came forth as a new singer,
and got the first real recognition as a poet. As a poet, pure and
simple, as a refined verse maker in all directions, Mr. Dunbar
surpasses Mr. Whitman by far in the truest significance in the term
poet, and he is justly assigned the first place among Negro poets. For
many reasons Mr. Dunbar is famous, and to enter into any extended
discussion of his work in this connection is needless. Mr. Dunbar is
the first Negro to attempt poetic art in Negro dialect. To speak the
truth, however, it must be said that there is no such thing as a Negro
dialect, but in the bad English called Negro dialect Mr. Dunbar has in
verse chosen to interpret the Negro in his general character, in his
philosophy of life, in his rich humor and good nature, and the world
knows how well he has succeeded. Robert Burns has shown how the
immortal life of all beautiful things can be handed down for all time
in dialect, but it can scarcely be believed by any one that great
poetry can ever be clothed in the garb known as Negro dialect. But for
some pathos and to put the Negro forward at his best in his humorous
and good natured characteristics the so-called dialect is the best
vehicle, and in these lines, and these lines only, is Mr. Dunbar by
far greater than all others. Out of t