Analysis of The Paradox
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
I am the mother of sorrows,
I am the ender of grief;
I am the bud and the blossom,
I am the late-falling leaf.
I am thy priest and thy poet,
I am thy serf and thy king;
I cure the tears of the heartsick,
When I come near they shall sing.
White are my hands as the snowdrop;
Swart are my fingers as clay;
Dark is my frown as the midnight,
Fair is my brow as the day.
Battle and war are my minions,
Doing my will as divine;
I am the calmer of passions,
Peace is a nursling of mine.
Speak to me gently or curse me,
Seek me or fly from my sight;
I am thy fool in the morning,
Thou art my slave in the night.
Down to the grave I will take thee,
Out from the noise of the strife,
Then shalt thou see me and know me--
Death, then, no longer, but life.
Then shalt thou sing at my coming,
Kiss me with passionate breath,
Clasp me and smile to have thought me
Aught save the foeman of death.
Come to me, brother, when weary,
Come when thy lonely heart swells;
I'll guide thy footsteps and lead thee
Down where the Dream Woman dwells.
Scheme | XAXA XBBB XCDC EFEF GDBD GHGH BIGI GJGJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 11010110 1101011 11010010 1101101 11110110 1111011 1101101 1111111 1111101 1111011 1111101 1111101 10011110 1011101 11010110 110111 11110111 1111111 11110010 1111001 11011111 1101101 11111011 1111011 11111110 1111001 11011111 110111 11110110 1111011 1111011 1101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,024 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 127 Views
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"The Paradox" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28929/the-paradox>.
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