One of the clearest examples of vernacular tradition is Paul Laurence Dunbar’s When Malindy Sings. The vocabulary used in the poem mimics the everyday speech pattern of African Americans from the early 1920s. In the poem, he writes, “Ain’t you nevah hyeahd Malindy?/Blessed soul, tek up de cross!” Many words are misspelled in today's expectations, but the phonetic spelling of “hyeahd” helps the reader capture how black adults would speak rather than if it were written as heard. Later in the poem, he writes, “She jes’ spreads huh mouf and hollahs,/’Come to Jesus,’ twell uou hyeah/,” giving us, the reader, clues that Malindy is singing spiritual songs. This poem does a great job of suggesting two types of vernacular tradition: how African Americans speak and sing. The shortened words clearly illustrate speech, and the descriptive language about her singing relates to the deep roots and role that Christianity plays in the African American culture.
Similarly, Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues uses vernacular tradition, but he blends speech with the rhythms of blues. This genre of blues music emerged to express the hardships faced by African Americans during and post slavery. Reflecting on struggle, lost love, labor, injustice, and resilience, blues music is melancholic. Additionally, a few common patterns in this genre of music are blues notes (bent or lowered notes), rhythmic and lyrical repetition, and call and response. In this poem, Langston Hughes writes “He did a lazy sway…/He did a lazy sway…,” mirroring the redundant element of blues music. Furthermore, he uses an abbreviated manner of writing that directly reflects everyday speech, “I ain’t happy no mo’”. Although Hughes does not use tons of shortened speech, like Paul Laurence Dunbar’s When Malindy Sings, he demonstrates vernacular tradition in the fashion of music in literary form.
Both of these texts show the reader what vernacular tradition is, whether or not they recognize it. Each poem goes beyond the simple example of traditional speech: spiritual music and blues. The vernacular tradition displays a connection to the written word that reflects lived experiences, allowing black artists to keep the unique voice of African Americans, setting them apart from white authors.
Similarly, Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues uses vernacular tradition, but he blends speech with the rhythms of blues. This genre of blues music emerged to express the hardships faced by African Americans during and post slavery. Reflecting on struggle, lost love, labor, injustice, and resilience, blues music is melancholic. Additionally, a few common patterns in this genre of music are blues notes (bent or lowered notes), rhythmic and lyrical repetition, and call and response. In this poem, Langston Hughes writes “He did a lazy sway…/He did a lazy sway…,” mirroring the redundant element of blues music. Furthermore, he uses an abbreviated manner of writing that directly reflects everyday speech, “I ain’t happy no mo’”. Although Hughes does not use tons of shortened speech, like Paul Laurence Dunbar’s When Malindy Sings, he demonstrates vernacular tradition in the fashion of music in literary form.
Both of these texts show the reader what vernacular tradition is, whether or not they recognize it. Each poem goes beyond the simple example of traditional speech: spiritual music and blues. The vernacular tradition displays a connection to the written word that reflects lived experiences, allowing black artists to keep the unique voice of African Americans, setting them apart from white authors.
Hi Adam,
ReplyDeleteI just want to start off by saying your explanation of vernacular tradition is very clear and concise. I really appreciate how you connect Dunbar's phonetic spelling with Hughes's blend of speech and music. I found it to be quite interesting that you show how Hughes relies more on rhythm while Dunbar focuses on spelling. This contrast highlights how vernacular tradition can vary through different art mediums. I wonder how readers at that time, particularly white audiences, might have had different responses to each style.
I definitely agree with Saif's question on what the intended response of a white audience with the AAVE in these writings would have been, but I definitely appreciate your differentiation between Dunbar and Hughes' work. I agree with your statement of how AAVE is often considered unprofessional today-- however I wonder what kind of evolution occurred to give us so much adoption of Black American vernacular in our common slang today-- and if there existed this kind of appropriation in society back when Hughes and Dunbar first published their poems.
ReplyDeleteHey Adam, you did a really nice job explaining the vernacular tradition in this blog. Your analysis of the texts that utilize the vernacular English was strong and I agree with your point at the end, highlighting the distinctiveness between African American and white poems at the time. Additionally, the way you differentiated Hughes' and Dunbar's techniques was compelling. Good work.
ReplyDeleteHey Adam, it's really interesting how you've identified the distinction between the vernacular tradition in speech as opposed to song. In each case, they're used in their own unique way to evoke the emotion and passion of life to the greatest extent they can, and it's great how you've highlighted varying usages of this same tradition to differentiate the effects of mediums like song and mediums like plain speech. I think it's interesting that, to some extent, the African-American vernacular as seen in music has arguably reached a much larger group of people than through speech, and I wonder why that is. Awesome post!
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