Analysis of The Death Of The First Born
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
COVER him over with daisies white,
And eke with the poppies red,
Sit with me here by his couch to-night,
For the First-Born, Love, is dead.
Poor little fellow, he seemed so fair
As he lay in my jealous arms;
Silent and cold he is lying there
Stripped of his darling charms.
Lusty and strong he had grown forsooth,
Sweet with an infinite grace,
Proud in the force of his conquering youth,
Laughter alight in his face.
Oh, but the blast, it was cruel and keen,
And ah, but the chill it was rare;
The look of the winter-kissed flow'r you've seen
When meadows and fields were bare.
Can you not wake from this white, cold sleep
And speak to me once again?
True that your slumber is deep, so deep,
But deeper by far is my pain.
Cover him over with daisies white,
And eke with the poppies red,
Sit with me here by his couch to-night,
For the First-Born, Love, is dead.
Scheme | ABABcdcdefefgcgchihjABAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101101 0110101 111111111 1011111 110101111 11101101 100111101 111101 10011111 1111001 1001111001 1001011 1101111001 01101111 01101011111 110101 111111111 0111101 111101111 11011111 101101101 0110101 111111111 1011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 847 |
Words | 166 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 661 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 164 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 78 Views
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