Analysis of A Love Letter
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
OH, I des received a letter f'om de sweetest little gal;
Oh, my; oh, my.
She's my lovely little sweetheart an' her name is Sal:
Oh, my; oh, my.
She writes me dat she loves me an' she loves me true,
She wonders ef I'll tell huh dat I loves huh, too;
An' my heaht's so full o' music dat I do' know what to do;
Oh, my; oh, my.
I got a man to read it an' he read it fine;
Oh, my; oh, my.
Dey ain' no use denying dat her love is mine;
Oh, my; oh, my.
But hyeah's de t'ing dat's puttin' me in such a awful plight,
I t'ink of huh at mornin' an' I dream of huh at night;
But how's I gwine to cou't huh w'en I do' know how to write?
Oh, my; oh, my.
My heaht is bubblin' ovah wid de t'ings I want to say;
Oh, my; oh, my.
An' dey's lots of folks to copy what I tell 'em fu' de pay;
Oh, my; oh, my.
But dey's t'ings dat I's a-t'inkin' dat is only fu' huh ears,
An' I couldn't lu'n to write 'em ef I took a dozen years;
So to go down daih an' tell huh is de only way, it 'pears;
Oh, my; oh, my.
Scheme | aBaBcccBdBdBeeeBfBfBgghB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111010101110101 1111 111010110111 1111 111111111111 110111111111 111111101111111 1111 110111111111 1111 111101010111 1111 11111111010101 11111111111111 111111111001111111 1111 111111111111 1111 111111101111111 1111 11111011110111 1110111111110101 111111111110111 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 967 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 667 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 220 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 135 Views
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"A Love Letter" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28617/a-love-letter>.
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