On March 20, 1905, The Washington Post published Paul Laurence Dunbar's sarcastic response to an accusation of plagiarism. A reader had recently pointed out similarities between Paul's poem "Rain Songs" and another rain-themed verse written by the nineteenth-century Scottish poet Alexander Smith.
Editor, I found the following verse in my Sunday Post.
RAIN SONGS
The rain streams down like harp-strings from the sky
The wind, that world-old harpist sitteth by;
And ever as he sings his low refrain
He plays upon the harp-strings of the rain.-- Paul Laurence Dunbar
It seemed very familiar, so taking my Bartlett's Quotations, I found this bit from Alexander Smith's "Life Drama," written more than forty years ago, when the author was a very young man:
In winter, when the dismal rain
Came down in slanting lines,
And wind, that grand old harper, smote
His thunder harp of pines.The negro poet is evidently a reader of almost forgotten poetry, but so is this old lady!
Anna H. Southworth
"Dunbar's Verse." The Washington Post (Washington, D. C.). March 1, 1905. Page 3.
Paul's poem "Rain Songs" is only four lines long, while Smith's "A Life in Drama" is a dramatic work of more than 150 pages. The lines quoted by Southworth are drawn from an eleven-stanza song in Scene 2. In a letter to the editor of the Post, Paul denied any connection between the two verses.
I have just come across the gleeful accusation of plagiarism made by Mrs. Anna H. Southworth. I have no plea to make. In the first place, the thought is entirely different. I see the wind, the harpist sitting beside the great strings of the rain and playing upon them, while Alexander Smith finds them smiting "his thunder harp of pines." There were not any pines in Chicago where the poem was written. I must temper Mrs. Southworth's unholy joy in having found a culprit by telling her that I am not a reader of almost forgotten poetry. I have never read a line of Alexander Smith's and haven't the least idea on earth who he is or was.
"Dunbar Did Not Plagiarize," by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The Washington Post (Washington, D. C.) March 20, 1905. Page 9.
This was not the first time that Paul had been accused of plagiarism in the press.
Scribner's and the Cosmopolitan have both been imposed upon recently by short story writers, who have dressed up some very old stories in very cheap clothes and passed them as original. In the Cosmopolitan case it is difficult to understand how the story of Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office Seeker," over passed the editor. Everybody who has read Mark Twain knows "The Man Who Put Up at Gadsby's." The story by Mr. Dunbar is an exact duplicate in plot, almost in dialogue of Mark Twain's story, spoiled, however, in the telling. Mr. Dunbar has written a great many clever stories. His effort in the February Cosmopolitan shows that he is not a good imitator.
"Cheap Brand of Plagiarism." The Denver Times (Denver, Colorado). March 5, 1899.
In Paul's story, "Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker," a man from Alabama arrives in the nation's capital, confident that he will receive a political appointment. A long-time Washington resident warns him that it might take longer than anticipated. Johnson remains at a hotel for months, gradually selling his possessions, waiting for his request to be granted.
In Mark Twain's story, "The Man Who Put Up at Gadsby's," a man from California arrives in the nation's capital, confident that he will receive a political appointment. A long-time Washington resident warns him that it might take longer than anticipated. He tells the Californian about another man from Tennessee who remained at a hotel for decades, gradually selling his possessions, waiting for his request to be granted.