On March 31, 1897, Edwin Henry Keen, an English author and translator, wrote to Paul Laurence Dunbar for the first time.
Your "Lyrics of Lowly Life" have afforded me the greatest enjoyment. I want to thank you for them. In conversation today I learned that there is a chance of you coming to England, and reading these charming pieces to us. Do come -- you will make them a great success. Surely these poems cannot fail to be appreciated here.
Edwin Henry Keen to Paul Laurence Dunbar, March 31, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
When Keen wrote this letter, Paul was already in England to recite his work and find an English publisher for his book Lyrics of Lowly Life. Keen helped to promote Paul's London reading, and invited him to meet his family at their home, as Paul described in a letter to his fiancée Alice Ruth Moore.
I am so glad to get your note -- Send me some tickets -- I will come and bring some friends on June 5th -- send me some of your programmes that I may distribute them.
Edwin Henry Keen to Paul Laurence Dunbar, May 13, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
Tomorrow evening I dine with my friend Edwin Henry Keen at his beautiful Swiss cottage "Birkdale." I send you his latest poem which he sent me. He has the good fortune to be wealthy and so seldom publishes. He has a dear wife of whom he always speaks, as I shall speak of you, as "little wife."
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Ruth Moore, May 23, 1897. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 5).
Enclosed with this letter was a handwritten copy of Keen's poem "Parted." It begins with the line "Beyond the cornfield and the wood" and has the initials E. H. K. at the bottom. The poem has been mistakenly attributed to Paul and published in collections of his work. Paul wrote two poems called "Parted," but not this one. Paul later wrote a nostalgic poem that he dedicated to Keen.
To me, like hauntings of a vagrant breath
From some far forest which I once have known,
The perfume of this flower of verse is blown.
Tho' seemingly soul-blossoms faint to death,
Naught that with joy she bears e'er withereth.
So, tho' the pregnant years have come and flown,
Lives come and gone and altered like mine own,
This poem comes to me a shibboleth:
Brings sound of past communings to my ear,
Turns round the tide of time and bears me back
Along an old and long untraversed way;
Makes me forget this is a later year,
Makes me tread o'er a reminiscent track,
Half sad, half glad, to one forgotten day!
"To E. H. K. -- On the Receipt of a Familiar Poem" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Published in Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899).
Paul's third novel, The Fanatics, is dedicated "To My Friend Edwin Henry Keen." Paul wanted to send Keen a copy of the book, but was traveling at the time, so his wife Alice took charge of the task.
I mailed you the Fanatics. It's beautifully gotten up, isn't it? I know you want to send Mr. Keen a Fanatic, but if I send you a book to autograph and send, that will be the end of it, so if you will send your autograph on a thin paper and his address, I'll paste it in and send him one at once.
Alice Moore Dunbar to Paul Laurence Dunbar, March 22, 1901. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
I have the autograph slip for Mr. Keen and now I am not certain how to address the book. The address is Birkdale, Kidder Ave. Hampstead, N. W. and I am so stupid that I don't know whether I must put London in somewhere or not.
Alice Moore Dunbar to Paul Laurence Dunbar, March 28, 1901. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).
Keen's address is Birkdale, Kidder Ave., Hampstead N. W. London, Eng.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Alice Moore Dunbar, April 3, 1901. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 8).