Analysis of The Stirrup Cup

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Come, drink a stirrup cup with me,
Before we close our rouse.
You 're all aglow with wine, I know:
The master of the house,
Unmindful of our revelry,
Has drowned the carking devil care,
And slumbers in his chair.

Come, drink a cup before we start;
We 've far to ride to-night.
And Death may take the race we make,
And check our gallant flight:
But even he must play his part,
And tho' the look he wears be grim,
We 'll drink a toast to him!

For Death,--a swift old chap is he,
And swift the steed He rides.
He needs no chart o'er main or mart,
For no direction bides.
So, come, a final, cup with me,
And let the soldiers' chorus swell,--
To hell with care, to hell!


Scheme ABXBACC DEXEDFF AXDBAGG
Poetic Form
Metre 11010111 0111101 111011111 010101 1110100 1101101 01011 11010111 1111111 01110111 0110101 11011111 01011111 1110111 11011111 010111 111110111 110101 11010111 01010101 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 653
Words 136
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7
Lines Amount 21
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 165
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 11, 2023

41 sec read
52

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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