Analysis of Expectation
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
You 'll be wonderin' whut 's de reason
I 's a grinnin' all de time,
An' I guess you t'ink my sperits
Mus' be feelin' mighty prime.
Well, I 'fess up, I is tickled
As a puppy at his paws.
But you need n't think I's crazy,
I ain' laffin' 'dout a cause.
You's a wonderin' too, I reckon,
Why I does n't seem to eat,
An' I notice you a lookin'
Lak you felt completely beat
When I 'fuse to tek de bacon,
An' don' settle on de ham.
Don' you feel no feah erbout me,
Jes' keep eatin', an' be ca'm.
Fu' I's waitin' an' I's watchin'
'Bout a little t'ing I see--
D' othah night I's out a walkin'
An' I passed a 'simmon tree.
Now I's whettin' up my hongry,
An' I's laffin' fit to kill,
Fu' de fros' done turned de 'simmons,
An' de possum 's eat his fill.
He done go'ged hisse'f owdacious,
An' he stayin' by de tree!
Don' you know, ol' Mistah Possum
Dat you gittin' fat fu' me?
'T ain't no use to try to 'spute it,
'Case I knows you's gittin' sweet
Wif dat 'simmon flavoh thoo you,
So I's waitin' fu' yo' meat.
An' some ebenin' me an Towsah
Gwine to come an' mek a call,
We jes' drap in onexpected
Fu' to shek yo' han', dat's all.
Oh, I knows dat you 'll be tickled,
Seems lak I kin see you smile,
So pu'haps I mought pu'suade you
Fu' to visit us a while.
Scheme | ABCBDCCC AEAEAXFX ACAFXGCG CFXFXEHE CIDIDJHJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 111111110 1101111 11111111 111101 11111110 1010111 111111110 1110101 1011110 11111111 1110101 1110101 11111110 1110111 1111111 1111111 111111 10101111 1111101 1110101 111111 1110111 11111110 11101111 111111 111111 1111110 111111 111111111 111111 1110111 111111 111111 1111101 11101 1111111 111111110 1111111 111111 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,209 |
Words | 258 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 173 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 26, 2023
- 1:23 min read
- 150 Views
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"Expectation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28723/expectation>.
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