Analysis of Time To Tinker 'Roun'!

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Summah 's nice, wif sun a-shinin',
Spring is good wif greens and grass,
An' dey 's some t'ings nice 'bout wintah,
Dough hit brings de freezin' blas;
But de time dat is de fines',
Whethah fiel's is green er brown,
Is w'en de rain 's a-po'in'
An' dey 's time to tinker 'roun.

Den you men's de mule's ol' ha'ness,
An' you men's de broken chair.
Hummin' all de time you 's wo'kin'
Some ol' common kind o' air.
Evah now an' then you looks out,
Tryin' mighty ha'd to frown,
But you cain't, you 's glad hit 's rainin',
An' dey 's time to tinker 'roun'.

Oh, you 'ten's lak you so anxious
Evah time it so't o' stops.
W'en hit goes on, den you reckon
Dat de wet 'll he'p de crops.
But hit ain't de crops you 's aftah;
You knows w'en de rain comes down
Dat's hit's too wet out fu' wo'kin',
An' dey 's time to tinker roun'.

Oh, dey 's fun inside de co'n-crib.
An' dey 's laffin' at de ba'n;
An' dey 's allus some one jokin',
Er some one to tell a ya'n.
Dah 's a quiet in yo' cabin,
Only fu' de rain's sof soun';
So you 's mighty blessed happy
W'en dey 's time to tinker 'roun'!


Scheme axbxxaaA xcacbaaA xdadbaaA xaaaaaxa
Poetic Form
Metre 1111101 1111101 11111111 111111 1111111 111101 11001111010 11111101 11111111 1111101 11111111 1110111 1111111 110111 1111111111 11111101 11111110 1111111 10011111110 11111111 11111111 1110011111 11111111 11111101 1111011111 11110111 1111111 01111011 110100110 1011111 11110110 10011111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,042
Words 219
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 185
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
46

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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    "Time To Tinker 'Roun'!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28970/time-to-tinker-%27roun%27%21>.

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