Analysis of Noon

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Shadder in de valley
Sunlight on de hill,
Sut'ny wish dat locus'
Knowed how to be still.
Don't de heat already
Mek a body hum,
'Dout dat insec' sayin'
Hottah days to come?

Fiel' 's a shinin' yaller
Wid de bendin' grain,
Guinea hen a callin',
Now's de time fu' rain;
Shet yo' mouf, you rascal,
Wha' 's de use to cry?
You do' see no rain clouds
Up dah in de sky.

Dis hyeah sweat's been po'in'
Down my face sence dawn;
Ain't hit time we 's hyeahin'
Dat ah dinnah ho'n?
Go on, Ben an' Jaspah,
Lif yo' feet an' fly,
Hit out fu' de shadder
Fo' I drap an' die.

Hongry, lawd a' mussy,
Hongry as a baih,
Seems lak I hyeah dinnah
Callin' evahwhaih;
Daih 's de ho'n a blowin'!
Let dat cradle swing,
One mo' sweep, den da'kies,
Beat me to de spring!'


Scheme ABCBADED FEEEXFXG EEEEXGFG CXEXEHXH
Poetic Form
Metre 10110 1111 11110 11111 111010 10101 1111 1111 11011 1111 10101 11111 111110 111111 111111 11011 111110 11111 111111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 1101 1101 11111 11 1111101 11101 111111 11111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 715
Words 151
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 16
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 132
Words per stanza (avg) 37
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

47 sec read
51

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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