Analysis of Ode to Ethiopia
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
O Mother Race! to thee I bring
This pledge of faith unwavering,
This tribute to thy glory.
I know the pangs which thou didst feel,
When Slavery crushed thee with its heel,
With thy dear blood all gory.
Sad days were those-ah, sad indeed!
But through the land the fruitful seed
Of better times was growing.
The plant of freedom upward sprung,
And spread its leaves so fresh and young-
Its blossoms now are blowing.
On every hand in this fair land,
Proud Ethiope's swarthy children stand
Beside their fairer neighbor;
The forests flee before their stroke,
Their hammers ring, their forges smoke,-
They stir in honest labour.
They tread the fields where honour calls;
Their voices sound through senate halls
In majesty and power.
To right they cling; the hymns they sing
Up to the skies in beauty ring,
And bolder grow each hour.
Be proud, my Race, in mind and soul;
Thy name is writ on Glory's scroll
In characters of fire.
High 'mid the clouds of Fame's bright sky
Thy banner's blazoned folds now fly,
And truth shall lift them higher.
Thou hast the right to noble pride,
Whose spotless robes were purified
By blood's severe baptism.
Upon thy brow the cross was laid,
And labour's painful sweat-beads made
A consecrating chrism.
No other race, or white or black,
When bound as thou wert, to the rack,
So seldom stooped to grieving;
No other race, when free again,
Forgot the past and proved them men
So noble in forgiving.
Go on and up! Our souls and eyes
Shall follow thy continuous rise;
Our ears shall list thy story
From bards who from thy root shall spring,
And proudly tune their lyres to sing
Of Ethiopia's glory.
Scheme | AABCCB DDAEEA FFGHHX IIGAAG JJGKKG LLMNNM OOAPPA QQBAAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011111 11110100 1101110 11011111 110011111 1111110 11011101 11010101 1101110 01110101 01111101 1101110 110010111 1110101 0111010 01010111 11011101 110101 1101111 11011101 0100010 11110111 11010101 0101110 11110101 1111111 0100110 11011111 1101111 0111110 11011101 1101010 1101100 01110111 0110111 011 11011111 11111101 1101110 11011101 01010111 1100010 110110101 110101001 10111110 11111111 01011111 1010010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,580 |
Words | 292 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 159 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 36 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 199 Views
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"Ode to Ethiopia" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28815/ode-to-ethiopia>.
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