Analysis of Puttin' The Baby Away
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
EIGHT of 'em hyeah all tol' an' yet
Dese eyes o' mine is wringin' wet;
My haht's a-achin' ha'd an' so',
De way hit nevah ached befo';
My soul's a-pleadin', 'Lawd give back
Dis little lonesome baby black,
Dis one, dis las' po' he'pless one
Whose little race was too soon run.'
Po' Little Jim, des fo' yeahs' ol'
A-layin' down so still an' col'.
Somehow hit don' seem ha'dly faih,
To have my baby lyin' daih
Wi'dout a smile upon his face,
Wi'dout a look erbout de place;
He ust to be so full o' fun
Hit don' seem right dat all's done, done.
Des eight in all but I don' caih,
Dey wa'nt a single one to spaih;
De worl' was big, so was my haht,
An' dis hyeah baby owned hit's paht;
De house was po', dey clothes was rough,
But daih was meat an' meal enough;
An' daih was room fu' little Jim;
Oh! Lawd, what made you call fu' him?
It do seem monst'ous ha'd to-day,
To lay dis baby boy away;
I'd learned to love his teasin' smile,
He mought o' des been lef' erwhile;
You wouldn't t'ought wid all de folks,
Dat's roun' hyeah mixin' teahs an' jokes,
De Lawd u'd had de time to see
Dis chile an' tek him 'way f'om me.
But let it go, I reckon Jim,
'll des go right straight up to Him
Dat took him f'om his mammy's nest
An' lef' dis achin' in my breas',
An' lookin' in dat fathah's face
An' 'memberin' dis lone sorrerin' place,
He'll say, 'Good Lawd, you ought to had
Do sumpin' fu' to comfo't dad!'
Scheme | AABCDDEEFFCAGGEEDHAACCIIJJFFKKLLIIMBGGNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 11111111 1111111 1101111 111111 1101111 11010101 11111111 11011111 11011111 0111111 111111 1111011 1010111 101111 11111111 11111111 11011111 11010111 11111111 11110111 11111111 11111101 11111101 11111111 1111111 11110101 1111111 1111111 110111111 1111111 11111111 110111111 11111101 11111111 1111111 1111011 110111 111111 11111111 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,356 |
Words | 280 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 989 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 276 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 27 Views
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"Puttin' The Baby Away" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28840/puttin%27-the-baby-away>.
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