Timothy Adams
NEH 2010 Summer Institute
Project Outline
W.E.B. DuBois High School
Dvorak in America
Introduction:
For my 19th Century American Poets Writing Workshop I’ve created an iPhoto Slide Show and a
Power Point presentation that hopefully will provide a social and historical framework to help
students reach a fuller understanding of many of the allusions and references in the poems we
read by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Objectives:

Students will be able to recognize that all texts have subtexts.

Students will consider the influence of music and poetry in the 19th Century on shaping
an American identity.

Students will be able to respond to poetry using interpretive, critical, and evaluative
processes.

.
Students will be turned on to Dunbar.
NYS ELA Standards:

Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words by using classroom and other resources.

Analyze the relevance of literature to contemporary and personal events from poetry.

Write interpretive essays to eplain how the use of literary devices affects meaning.

Distinguish between different forms of poetry and recognize how the author uses poetic
form to convey meaning.

Interpret literary texts on the basis of an understanding of the genre and the literary
period.

Write interpretive essays to express judgement and support them through references to
the text.
Duration:
This project is designed to span a period of roughly two weeks (ten forty-five minutes class
periods) within a ten-week cycle. The Power Point presentation will ideally provide a recurring
reference point to return to as the other resources listed below are used in daily learning activities
and in extension assignments.
Timothy Adams
NEH 2010 Summer Institute
Project Outline
W.E.B. DuBois High School
Dvorak in America
Resources:
Materials needed: (available at http://www.voicesacrosstime.org/)

Paul Laurence Dunbar Biography

Selected Poems of Paul Dunbar

Poetry Breakdown Sheets

Lyrics of selected songs

List of Literary Devices Used by Poets and Rappers

Formal Essay Rubric
Digital resources:
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones AKA Nas (1973-)
“Breathe” Freestyle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RGM6TsfMn0
Eunice Kathleen Waymon AKA Nina Simone (1933-2003):
“Strange Fruit”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIficim0ds
Video Interpretations of Paul Dunbar’s poem “We Wear The Mask”:
Poetry Out Loud 2010 Semi-Finalist Victoria Thomas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDwgnWE6jW8
Keith Walker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkHe-NTsZK4&feature=related
Shaun Harrison, student at the Savannah College of Art &Design:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWAawzE4vxg&feature=related
Lauren Baston, British art student:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQXRQZD3pTc
Timothy Adams
NEH 2010 Summer Institute
Project Outline
W.E.B. DuBois High School
Dvorak in America
John Williams “Memoirs of a Geisha”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQc6OFhsNOo&feature=related
Paul Dunbar (1872-1906):
Official Paul Dunbar Website:
http://www.dunbarsite.org/
What Dreams We Have: Chapter 4—Paul Laurence Dunbar
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/daav/chap4.htm
Valenti, Phillip. “Paul Laurence Dunbar—The Struggle for an American Classical Renaissance.”
New Federalist American Almanic. July, 2001.
www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/dunbar
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (1841-1904):
2nd Movement of the New World Symphony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ENf4VEhI40
Visual Presentations of the New World Symphony and the Hiawatha Melodrama created by
Joseph Horowitz and Peter Bogdanoff:
http://homepage.mac.com/bogdanoff/FileSharing4.html
Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949):
Biographical Video Clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbbB4suz2co&feature=PlayList&p=82A48A741102F433&p
laynext=1&index=3
Paul Robeson (1898-1976):
Live recording of Fisher’s arrangement of “Going Home” (inspired by the Largo from Dvořák’s
New World Symphony) at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1958:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9smSP1dq-A
Jessye Norman (1945-):
Timothy Adams
NEH 2010 Summer Institute
Project Outline
W.E.B. DuBois High School
Dvorak in America
Live recording of Burleigh’s 1916 arrangement of “Deep River” at Carnegie Hall in New York
City in 1990:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiLzRozaTmc
Collaborative Components:
These resources can be shared with U.S. History faculty to facilitate interdisciplinary learning.
Procedures:
Days 1 and 2:
Teacher will project the iPhoto slide show “Paul Dunbar: Goin’ Home” paired with the opening
of the second movement of The New World Symphony by Antonin Dvorak. The slideshow is
designed to introduce Paul Dunbar to students; and I suggest playing it without any comment or
questions at the beginning of this unit, then replaying it at the end of the unit and having students
use what they have learned about the poet and the time period in which he lived to explain the
slides:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39412787@N05/sets/72157624636637014/show/
Teacher will display the text of Nas’ “Breath Freestyle” and a handout containing a list of
literary terms and devices with their definitions.
Workshop:
Students will listen to a recording of the freestyle and work in pairs to identify the literary
devices used by Nas and decide upon two themes that they feel are being developed in the song.
Students will share their findings then work individually to write a two paragraph thematic essay
in which they use details from the song to demonstrate how Nas uses literary devices to develop
two different themes.
Students will add visual images to each paragraph they’ve written and the student work will be
posted around the classroom.
Days 3 and 4:
Teacher will play Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit.” After a class discussion of lynching, teacher
will distribute the packet of Paul Dunbar poems and the Dunbar bio. After a shared reading of
the bio, teacher will distribute Poetry Breakdown sheets and model completing the worksheet for
the poem “We Wear the Mask” while eliciting student responses.
Teacher will play interpretations of “We Wear the Mask” by Victoria Thomas and Kieth Walker.
Workshop:
Students will write Journal Responses to the following questions:

Which of the two interpretations of did you find most interesting and why?

How would you describe the differences between the two intrepretations?
Timothy Adams
NEH 2010 Summer Institute
Project Outline

W.E.B. DuBois High School
Dvorak in America
What questions do you still have about the poem?
Days 4 and 5:
Teacher will present the Power Point Presentation “Paul Dunbar: “Goin Home”.”
Workshop:
Students will complete Poetry Breakdown Sheets for two Dunbar poems of their own choosing.
Students will take turns teaching the rest of the class using their Poetry Breakdown Sheets.
Days 5 and 6:
Teacher will project Burleigh’s bio video, Paul Robeson’s “Goin’ Home” video, and Jessye
Norman’s “Deep River” video.
Teacher will model Poetry Breakdown Sheets for the poems “A Negro Love Song” and “The
Poet”
Workshop:
Students will complete breakdown sheets for the above poems as well as one vernacular poem
and one formal poem of their own choosing.
Students will write Journal Responses to the following questions:

What are some of the significant differences between Dunbar’s dialect poems and his
poems written in a more formal style?

Do you prefer one of the two styles to the other? If so, why?

Why do you suppose Dunbar would have decided to write poems in two such distinctly
different styles?
Days 7 and 8:
Teacher will facilitate a choral readings of the poem “W'en dey 'listed colo'ed sojers” and
“Emancipation.”
Workshop:
Students will complete breakdown sheets for the above poems.
Students will write Journal Responses to the following questions:
 Why do you suppose Dunbar would have written poems about the Civil War even though
he had lived long after the war had been fought and was long over?
 How would you describe the emotions experienced and expressed by the speaker in the
poem “W'en dey 'listed colo'ed sojers”
Timothy Adams
NEH 2010 Summer Institute
Project Outline

W.E.B. DuBois High School
Dvorak in America
How do you feel about Dunbar’s optimistic feelings expressed in the poem
“Emancipation”? Do you agree with Dunbar’s predictions about African-Americans and
freedom expressed in the poem? Why or why not?
Days 9 and 10:
Teacher will project the iPhoto Slideshow “Paul Dunbar: Goin’ Home” and ask students to
discuss the slides based upon their learning over the course of the unit. Teacher will assign
essay topics.
Essay topics may include:



Choose one of Dunbar’s dialect poems and one of his formal poems and write an
essay comparing the two styles
Choose any one of the longer Dunbar poems and write an essay about the major
themes expressed in the poem.
Choose any two of Dunbar’s shorter poems and write an essay about the major
themes expressed in the poems.
Workshop:
Students will draft first drafts of their formal essays.
Students will peer edit.
Students will write their final drafts of their formal essays.
Assessments:




Two Paragraph Thematic Essay on Nas’s “Breathe Freestyle”
Journal Responses
Seven completed Poetry Breakdown Sheets
Formal five paragraph essay
Extension assignments:
Students may view the Visual Presentations of the New World Symphony and/or the Hiawatha
Melodrama and read selections from Longfellow’s Hiawatha for further exploration of and
writing about how Native American influences on American painting, music, and poetry helped
to shape a national identity in the 19th Century.