Johnny Speaks

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



THE sand-man he's a jolly old fellow,
His face is kind and his voice is mellow,
But he makes your eyelids as heavy as lead,
And then you got to go off to bed;
I don't think I like the sand-man.
But I've been playing this livelong day;
It does make a fellow so tired to play!
Oh, my, I'm a-yawning right here before ma,
I'm the sleepiest fellow that ever you saw.
I think I do like the sand-man.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

26 sec read
113

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCDDEFC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 393
Words 82
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 10

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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