Analysis of O Southland!

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



O Southland! O Southland!
Have you not heard the call,
The trumpet blown, the word made known
To the nations, one and all?
The watchword, the hope-word,
Salvation's present plan?
A gospel new, for all-for you
Man shall be saved by man.

O Southland! O Southland!
Do you not hear to-day
The mighty beat of onward feet,
And know you not their way?
'Tis forward, 'tis upward,
On to the fair white arch
Of Freedom's dome, and there is room
For each man who would march.

O Southland, fair Southland!
Then why do you still cling
To an idle age and a musty page,
To a dead and useless thing?
'Tis springtime! 'Tis work-time!
The world is young again!
And God's above, and God is love,
And men are only men.

O Southland! my Southland!
O birthland! do not shirk
The toilsome task, nor respite ask,
But gird you for the work.
Remember, remember
That weakness stalks in pride;
That he is strong who helps along
The faint one at his side.


Scheme Abxbcdxd Aexecfxf agxgxhxh aixixjxj
Poetic Form
Metre 1111 111101 01010111 1010101 01011 1101 01011111 111111 1111 111111 01011101 011111 110110 110111 11010111 111111 1111 111111 1110100101 1010101 11111 011101 01010111 011101 1111 11111 0111101 111101 010010 110101 11111101 011111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 902
Words 174
Sentences 21
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 176
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 12, 2023

53 sec read
83

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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