Analysis of He had his Dream
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
He had his dream, and all through life,
Worked up to it through toil and strife.
Afloat fore'er before his eyes,
It colored for him all his skies:
The storm-cloud dark
Above his bark,
The calm and listless vault of blue
Took on its hopeful hue,
It tinctured every passing beam -
He had his dream.
He labored hard and failed at last,
His sails too weak to bear the blast,
The raging tempests tore away
And sent his beating bark astray.
But what cared he
For wind or sea!
He said, 'The tempest will be short,
My bark will come to port.'
He saw through every cloud a gleam -
He had his dream.
Scheme | aabbccddeE ffgghhiieE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (35%) |
Metre | 11110111 11111101 01100111 11011111 0111 0111 01010111 111101 11100101 1111 11010111 11111101 0101101 01110101 1111 1111 11010111 111111 111100101 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 578 |
Words | 118 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 227 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 119 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"He had his Dream" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28736/he-had-his-dream>.
Discuss this Paul Laurence Dunbar poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In