Analysis of Advice

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



W'EN you full o' worry
'Bout yo' wo'k an' sich,
W'en you kind o' bothered
Case you can't get rich,
An' yo' neighboh p'ospah
Past his jest desu'ts,
An' de sneer of comerds
Stuhes yo' heaht an' hu'ts,
Des don' pet yo' worries,
Lay 'em on de she'f,
Tek a little trouble
Brothah, wid yo'se'f.
Ef a frien' comes mou'nin'
'Bout his awful case,
You know you don' grieve him
Wid a gloomy face,
But you wrassle wid him,
Try to tek him in;
Dough hit cracks yo' features,
Law, you smile lak sin,
Ain't you good ez he is?
Don' you pine to def;
Tek a little trouble
Brothah, wid yo'se'f.
Ef de chillun pestahs,
An' de baby's bad,
Ef yo' wife gits narvous,
An' you're gettin' mad,
Des you grab yo' boot-strops,
Hol' yo' body down,
Stop a-tinkin' cuss-w'rds,
Chase away de frown,
Knock de haid o' worry,
Twell dey ain' none lef';
Tek a little trouble,
Brothah, wid yo'se'f.


Scheme abcbdeeeefGFheieihehefGFejejehehafGF
Poetic Form
Metre 100111110 111111 100111110 11111 1111 1111 11111 1111111 111110 111111 101010 11111 10111 11101 111111 10101 11111 11110 111110 11111 111111 11111 101010 11111 1111 11101 11111 1111 111111 11101 10111 10111 111110 11111 101010 11111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 833
Words 164
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 36
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 17
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 613
Words per stanza (avg) 162
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

54 sec read
43

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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