By The Stream

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



BY the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass,
How the clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens pass,
And the water into ripples breaks and sparkles as it spreads,
Like a host of armored knights with silver helmets on their heads.
And I deem the stream an emblem fit of human life may go,
For I find a mind may sparkle much and yet but shallows show,
And a soul may glow with myriad lights and wondrous mysteries,
When it only lies a dormant thing and mirrors what it sees.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

29 sec read
123

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDD
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 507
Words 99
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 8

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

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