Analysis of A Banjo Song
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
OH, dere's lots o' keer an' trouble
In dis world to swaller down;
An' ol' Sorrer's purty lively
In her way o' gittin' roun'.
Yet dere's times when I furgit 'em, —
Aches an' pains an' troubles all, —
An' it's when I tek at ebenin'
My ol' banjo f'om de wall.
'Bout de time dat night is fallin'
An' my daily wu'k is done,
An' above de shady hilltops
I kin see de settin' sun;
When de quiet, restful shadders
Is beginnin' jes' to fall, —
Den I take de little banjo
F'om its place upon de wall.
Den my fam'ly gadders roun' me
In de fadin' o' de light,
Ez I strike de strings to try 'em
Ef dey all is tuned er-right.
An' it seems we're so nigh heaben
We kin hyeah de angels sing
When de music o' dat banjo
Sets my cabin all er-ring.
An' my wife an' all de othahs, —
Male an' female, small an' big, —
Even up to gray-haired granny,
Seem jes' boun' to do a jig;
'Twell I change de style o' music,
Change de movement an' de time,
An' de ringin' little banjo
Plays an ol' hea't-feelin' hime.
An' somehow my th'oat gits choky,
An' a lump keeps tryin' to rise
Lak it wan'ed to ketch de water
Dat was flowin' to my eyes;
An' I feel dat I could sorter
Knock de socks clean off o' sin
Ez I hyeah my po' ol' granny
Wif huh tremblin' voice jine in.
Den we all th'ow in our voices
Fu' to he'p de chune out too,
Lak a big camp-meetin' choiry
Tryin' to sing a mou'nah th'oo.
An' our th'oahts let out de music,
Sweet an' solemn, loud an' free,
'Twell de raftahs o' my cabin
Echo wif de melody.
Oh, de music o' de banjo,
Quick an' deb'lish, solemn, slow,
Is de greates' joy an' solace
Dat a weary slave kin know!
So jes' let me hyeah it ringin',
Dough de chune be po' an' rough,
It's a pleasure; an' de pleasures
O' dis life is few enough.
Now, de blessed little angels
Up in heaben, we are told,
Don't do nothin' all dere lifetime
'Ceptin' play on ha'ps o' gold.
Now I think heaben'd be mo' homelike
Ef we'd hyeah some music fall
F'om a real ol'-fashioned banjo,
Like dat one upon de wall.
Scheme | ABCBDEBEFGHGHEIECJDJBKIKHLCLMNINKOPOPFCFQRPSMCGCIITIBUVUWXNXYEIE |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111110 011111 111110 001111 1111111 1111101 1111111 111111 11111110 11101111 1011101 111111 1110101 11111 1111101 1110111 111111 011111 11111111 1111101 1111111 1111101 1110111 1110101 1111111 111111 10111110 1111101 11111110 1110111 111101 111111 11111111 1011111 111111110 111111 11111110 1111111 11111110 111110 11111101010 11111111 101111 111011 110111110 1110111 1111110 1011100 1110111 1111101 1111110 1010111 1111111 1111111 10101110 1111101 1111010 101111 1110111 111111 1111111 1111101 1011101 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,924 |
Words | 398 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 64 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,419 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 396 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:07 min read
- 99 Views
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"A Banjo Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28594/a-banjo-song>.
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