Analysis of A Plantation Portrait

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



HAIN'T you see my Mandy Lou,
Is it true?
Whaih you been f'om day to day,
Whaih, I say?
Dat you say you nevah seen
Dis hyeah queen
Walkin' roun' f'om fiel' to street
Smilin' sweet?
Slendah ez a saplin' tree;
Seems to me
W'en de win' blow f'om de bay
She jes' sway
Lak de reg'lar saplin' do
Ef hit's grew
Straight an' graceful, 'dout a limb,
Sweet an' slim.
Browner den de frush's wing,
An' she sing
Lak he mek his wa'ble ring
In de spring;
But she sholy beat de frush,
Hyeah me, hush:
W'en she sing, huh teef kin show
White ez snow.
Eyes ez big an' roun' an' bright
Ez de light
Whut de moon gives in de prime
Harvest time.
An' huh haih a woolly skein,
Black an' plain,
Hol's you wid a natchul twis'
Close to bliss.
Tendah han's dat mek yo' own
Feel lak stone;
Easy steppin', blessid feet,
Small an' sweet.
Hain't you seen my Mandy Lou,
Is it true?
Look at huh befo' she's gone,
Den pass on!


Scheme aAbbccddeebbaaffgggghhiijjkkllmmnnddaAop
Poetic Form Tetractys  (48%)
Etheree  (28%)
Metre 11111101 111 1111111 111 111111 111 111111 11 11011 111 1001111111 111 111111 111 1110101 111 101111 111 111111 011 111111 111 1001111111 111 1111111 111 1111011 101 1110101 111 111011 111 111111 111 10111 111 11111101 111 111111 111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 861
Words 180
Sentences 11
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 40
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 16
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 647
Words per stanza (avg) 178
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

58 sec read
106

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…

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