Analysis of In Summer
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Oh, summer has clothed the earth
In a cloak from the loom of the sun!
And a mantle, too, of the skies' soft blue,
And a belt where the rivers run.
And now for the kiss of the wind,
And the touch of the air's soft hands,
With the rest from strife and the heat of life,
With the freedom of lakes and lands.
I envy the farmer's boy
Who sings as he follows the plow;
While the shining green of the young blades lean
To the breezes that cool his brow.
He sings to the dewy morn,
No thought of another's ear;
But the song he sings is a chant for kings
And the whole wide world to hear.
He sings of the joys of life,
Of the pleasures of work and rest,
From an o'erfull heart, without aim or art;
'T is a song of the merriest.
O ye who toil in the town,
And ye who moil in the mart,
Hear the artless song, and your faith made strong
Shall renew your joy of heart.
Oh, poor were the worth of the world
If never a song were heard,--
If the sting of grief had no relief,
And never a heart were stirred.
So, long as the streams run down,
And as long as the robins trill,
Let us taunt old Care with a merry air,
And sing in the face of ill.
Scheme | XAXA BCDC XEXE XFXF DXGB HGXG XIXI HJXJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1101101 001101101 0010110111 00110101 01101101 00110111 1011100111 10101101 1100101 11111001 1010110111 10101111 1110101 1110101 1011110111 0011111 1110111 10101101 111101111 1101101 1111001 0111001 101101111 1011111 11001101 1100101 101111101 0100101 1110111 01110101 1111110101 0100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,104 |
Words | 239 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 107 Views
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"In Summer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28749/in-summer>.
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