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 Views
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