Analysis of A Banjo Song

James Weldon Johnson 1871 (Jacksonville) – 1938 (Wiscasset)



W'en de banjos wuz a-ringin',
An' de darkies wuz a-singin',
Oh, wuzen dem de good times sho!
All de ole folks would be chattin',
An' de pickaninnies pattin',
As dey heah'd de feet a-shufflin' 'cross de flo'.

An' how we'd dance, an' how we'd sing!
Dance tel de day done break.
An' how dem banjos dey would ring,
An' de cabin flo' would shake!

Come along, come along,
Come along, come along,
Don't you heah dem banjos a-ringin'?

Gib a song, gib a song,
Gib a song, gib a song,
Git yo' feet fixed up fu' a-wingin'.

W'ile de banjos dey go plunka, plunka, plunk,
We'll dance tel de ole flo' shake;
W'ile de feet keep a-goin' chooka, chooka, chook,
We'll dance tel de day done break.


Scheme aaxaax bcbc DDa DDa xcxc
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 100111101 111101 1111111 11111110 11110 1111101111 11111111 111111 1111111 1110111 101101 101101 1111101 101101 101101 11111101 11111111 1111111 111101111 1111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 666
Words 129
Sentences 9
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 4, 3, 3, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 97
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 30, 2023

41 sec read
97

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson was an American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is best remembered for his leadership within the NAACP as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and anthologies. He was also the first African-American professor at New York University. Later in life he was a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University. more…

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