“The Poet and The Baby” was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 – 1906). Dunbar was an American poet, novelist and playwright. His parents had been slaves before the Civil War. He started writing as a child and had his first poems published at age 16.
Dunbar is one of my favorite poets. That’s why we’ve posted several of his poems in the past!
Here you can listen to a recording of “The Poet and The Baby” and read along with the text.
MP3 Recording of The Poet and The Baby
The Poet and The Baby
How’s a man to write a sonnet, can you tell,—
How’s he going to weave the dim, poetic spell,—
When a-toddling on the floor
Is the muse he must adore,
And this muse he loves, not wisely, but too well?
Now, to write a sonnet, every one allows,
One must always be as quiet as a mouse;
But to write one seems to me
Quite superfluous to be,
When you ‘ve got a little sonnet in the house.
Just a dainty little poem, true and fine,
That is full of love and life in every line,
Earnest, delicate, and sweet,
Altogether so complete
That I wonder what’s the use of writing mine.
Read by Mark Ernest.
This article was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2018 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, English, Languages, Mama Lisa, MP3's, MP3's of Poems, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poems, Poems about Children, Poems about Family, Poetry, Poets, Recordings, Recordings of Poems, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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