An Annotation of Paul Laurence Dunbars Ships That Pass In The Night :: Dunbar Ships Pass Night Poem Essays

An Annotation of Paul Laurence Dunbars Ships That Pass In The Night Laurence Dunbars Ship That Pass In The Night is a cry for opportunity for every men, regardless of race. Dunbars poem directly parallels a passage from Frederick Douglass autobiography that gives an account of his life as a slave. Both Douglass and Dunbar look divulge at the ships that navigate by and see hopes for societal changes. Although they both(prenominal) sought change, their aspirations were quite different. Frederick Douglass watched the ships from ashore, wishing for freedom and for slavery to be abolished. Paul Laurence Dunbar on the other hand was already a free man. He was on a ship, still more of an opportunity than Douglass had, yet he was still in search for new opportunities for African Americans. The new opportunities that he seeks are upon a ship somewhere sailing in the dark night and keep passing him by.Links from the poem infra are best read in order from the beginning of the poem to the e ndShips That Pass In The Nightby Paul Laurence Dunbar Out in the sky the great dark clouds are massingI look far out into the pregnant night,Where I can hear a solemn favorable gunAnd catch the gleaming of a random light,That tells me that the ship I seek is passing, passing.My tearful eyes my souls deep hurt are glassingFor I would clap and check that ship of ships.I stretch my hands imploring, cry aloud,My voice falls dead a foot from mine own lips,And but its haunt doth reach that vessel, passing, passing.O Earth, O Sky, O Ocean, both surpassing,O heart of mine, O soul that dreads the darkIs there no hope for me? Is there no wayThat I may sight and check that speeding barkWhich out of sight and sound is passing, passing?The speaker begins by looking out into the night sky and sees a storm brewing. The storm represents the future, and like the nature of a storm, the future is unpredictable. A storm can either be fleshy with thunder and lightning, or just a gentle rain that com es and goes. The speaker does not know what the future will bring for African Americans. He single knows that something is going to happen. The night is pregnant with opportunity and equality, waiting to deliver to people of all races. But the storm brewing on the night horizon is both threatening and promising for the speaker.