Analysis of The Gourd
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
In the heavy earth the miner
Toiled and laboured day by day,
Wrenching from the miser mountain
Brilliant treasure where it lay.
And the artist worn and weary
Wrought with labour manifold
That the king might drink his nectar
From a goblet made of gold.
On the prince's groaning table
Mid the silver gleaming bright
Mirroring the happy faces
Giving back the flaming light,
Shine the cups of priceless crystal
Chased with many a lovely line,
Glowing now with warmer colour,
Crimsoned by the ruby wine.
In a valley sweet with sunlight,
Fertile with the dew and rain,
Without miner's daily labour,
Without artist's nightly pain,
There there grows the cup I drink from,
Summer's sweetness in it stored,
And my lips pronounce a blessing
As they touch an old brown gourd.
Why, the miracle at Cana
In the land of Galilee,
Tho' it puzzles all the scholars,
Is no longer strange to me.
For the poorest and the humblest
Could a priceless wine afford,
If they 'd only dip up water
With a sunlight-seasoned gourd.
So a health to my old comrade,
And a song of praise to sing
When he rests inviting kisses
In his place beside the spring.
Give the king his golden goblets,
Give the prince his crystal hoard;
But for me the sparkling water
From a brown and brimming gourd!
Scheme | ABXBCDAD EFGFEHAH FIXIXJKJ XCXCXJAJ XKGKGJAJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) |
Metre | 00101010 101111 10101010 1010111 00101010 11110 10111110 1010111 10101010 1010101 10001010 1010101 10111010 11100101 1011101 110101 0010111 1010101 0110101 0110101 11101111 1010011 01101010 1111111 10100110 001110 11101010 1110111 101000100 1010101 111101110 101101 1011111 0011111 11101010 0110101 1011101 1011101 11101010 1010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,223 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 64 Views
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