Analysis of Possum
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Ef dey 's anyt'ing dat riles me
An' jes' gits me out o' hitch,
Twell I want to tek my coat off,
So 's to r'ar an' t'ar an' pitch,
Hit's to see some ign'ant white man
'Mittin' dat owdacious sin--
Wen he want to cook a possum
Tekin' off de possum's skin.
W'y dey ain't no use in talkin',
Hit jes' hu'ts me to de hea't
Fu' to see dem foolish people
Th'owin' 'way de fines' pa't.
W'y, dat skin is jes' ez tendah
An' ez juicy ez kin be;
I knows all erbout de critter--
Hide an' haih--don't talk to me!
Possum skin is jes lak shoat skin;
Jes' you swinge an' scrope it down,
Tek a good sha'p knife an' sco' it,
Den you bake it good an' brown.
Huh-uh! honey, you 's so happy
Dat yo' thoughts is 'mos' a sin
When you 's settin' dah a-chawin'
On dat possum's cracklin' skin.
White folks t'ink dey know 'bout eatin',
An' I reckon dat dey do
Sometimes git a little idee
Of a middlin' dish er two;
But dey ain't a t'ing dey knows of
Dat I reckon cain't be beat
Wen we set down at de table
To a unskun possum's meat!
Scheme | ABXBCDXD XEFAEAXA DGEGADCD CEEXXEFE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111 1111111 11111111 1111111111 1111111 1111 11111010 11111 10011111010 111111111 11111010 111111 1001111111 1110111 1111110 1111111 10111111 1111111 101111111 1111111 111011110 1111101 1111101 11111 11111111 1110111 0110101 101101 111011111 11101111 11111110 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 979 |
Words | 208 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 168 Views
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"Possum" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28832/possum>.
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