Analysis of Possession

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Whose little lady is you, chile,
Whose little gal is you?
What's de use o' kiver'n up yo' face?
Chile, dat ain't de way to do.
Lemme see yo' little eyes,
Tek yo' little han's down nice,
Lawd, you wuff a million bills,
Huh uh, chile, dat ain't yo' price.

Honey, de money ain't been made
Dat dey could pay fu' you;
'T ain't no use a-biddin'; you too high
Fu' de riches' Jap er Jew.
Lemme see you smilin' now,
How dem teef o' yo'n do shine,
An' de t'ing dat meks me laff
Is dat all o' you is mine.

How 's I gwine to tell you how I feel,
How's I gwine to weigh yo' wuff?
Oh, you sholy is de sweetes' t'ing
Walkin' on dis blessed earf.
Possum is de sweetes' meat,
Cidah is the nices' drink,
But my little lady-bird
Is de bes' of all, I t'ink.

Talk erbout 'uligion he'pin' folks
All thoo de way o' life,
Gin de res' 'uligion, des' gin me
You, my little lady-wife.
Den de days kin come all ha'd,
Den de nights kin come all black,
Des' you tek me by de han',
An' I'll stumble on de track.

Stumble on de way to Gawd, my chile,
Stumble on, an' mebbe fall;
But I'll keep a-trottin', while you lead on,
Pickin' an' a-trottin', dat's all.
Hol' me mighty tight, dough, chile,
Fu' hit's rough an' rocky lan',
Heaben 's at de en', I know,
So I's leanin' on yo' han'.


Scheme ABXBXCXC DBEBXFXF XEXEXGXG XHAHDIJI AKJKAXXJ
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Metre 110101110 110111 11111111 10111111 1011101 1110111 1110101 11101111 10110111 111111 111101111 1110101 101111 11111111 11111111 1111111 1111111111 1111111 11111111 11111 101111 11011 1110101 11111111 111111 111111 1111111 1110101 1111111 1111111 1111111 1110111 1011111110 101111 111011111 110111 11101110 1111101 1111111 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,219
Words 254
Sentences 14
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) 176
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:21 min read
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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…

All Paul Laurence Dunbar poems | Paul Laurence Dunbar Books

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