Analysis of The Turning Of The Babies In The Bed
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat.
She's a mess o' funny capahs f'om huh slippahs to huh hat.
Ef you tries to un'erstan' huh, an' you fails, des' up an' say:
'D' ain't a bit o' use to try to un'erstan' a woman's way.'
I don' mean to be complainin', but I 's jes' a-settin' down
Some o' my own obserwations, w'en I cas' my eye eroun'.
Ef you ax me fu' to prove it, I ken do it mighty fine,
Fu' dey ain't no bettah 'zample den dis ve'y wife o' mine.
In de ve'y hea't o' midnight, w'en I 's sleepin' good an' soun',
I kin hyeah a so't o' rustlin' an' somebody movin' 'roun'.
An' I say, 'Lize, whut you doin'?' But she frown an' shek huh haid,
'Heish yo' mouf, I's only tu'nin' of de chillun in de bed.
'Don' you know a chile gits restless, layin' all de night one way?
An' you' got to kind o' 'range him sev'al times befo' de day?
So de little necks won't worry, an' de little backs won't break;
Don' you t'ink case chillun 's chillun dey hain't got no pain an' ache.'
So she shakes 'em, an' she twists 'em, an' she tu'ns 'em 'roun' erbout,
'Twell I don' see how de chillun evah keeps f'om hollahin' out.
Den she lif's 'em up head down'ards, so's dey won't git livahgrown,
But dey snoozes des' ez peaceful ez a liza'd on a stone.
W'en hit's mos' nigh time fu' wakin' on de dawn o' jedgment day,
Seems lak I kin hyeah ol' Gab'iel lay his trumpet down an' say,
'Who dat walkin' 'roun' so easy, down on earf ermong de dead?'--
'T will be Lizy up a-tu'nin' of de chillun in de bed.
Scheme | AABB CCDD CCXE BBFF AXCX BBEE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 1010110111111 1011101111111 1111111111111 11011111110101 1111111111011 11111100111111 111111111111101 1111111111111 01111111001111111 1110111111011 111111101111111 1111101111011 111010110111111 1111111111111 111011101110111 1111111111111111 11111111111111 111111111111 111111111111 1111110101101 1001111111111111 11111111110111 1111110111111 1111101111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,487 |
Words | 306 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 43 |
Words per line (avg) | 13 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 174 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 39 Views
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