Analysis of Dead

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



A KNOCK is at her door, but she is weak;
Strange dews have washed the paint streaks from her cheek;
She does not rise, but, ah, this friend is known,
And knows that he will find her all alone.
So opens he the door, and with soft tread
Goes straightway to the richly curtained bed.
His soft hand on her dewy head he lays.
A strange white light she gives him for his gaze.
Then, looking on the glory of her charms,
He crushes her resistless in his arms.
Stand back! look not upon this bold embrace,
Nor view the calmness of the wanton's face;
With joy unspeakable and 'bated breath,
She keeps her last, long liaison with death!


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGG
Poetic Form
Metre 0111011111 1111011101 1111111111 0111110101 1101010111 11101011 1111010111 0111111111 1101010101 11001011 1111011101 110101011 1101000101 110110111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 121
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 484
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 10, 2023

36 sec read
88

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…

All Paul Laurence Dunbar poems | Paul Laurence Dunbar Books

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