Analysis of De Way T'ings Come
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
De way t'ings come, hit seems to me,
Is des' one monst'ous mystery;
De way hit seem to strike a man,
Dey ain't no sense, dey ain't no plan;
Ef trouble sta'ts a pilin' down,
It ain't no use to rage er frown,
It ain't no use to strive er pray,
Hit's mortal boun' to come dat way.
Now, ef you 's hongry, an' yo' plate
Des' keep on sayin' to you, 'Wait,'
Don't mek no diffunce how you feel,
'T won't do no good to hunt a meal,
Fu' dat ah meal des' boun' to hide
Ontwell de devil's satisfied,
An' 'twell dey's some'p'n by to cyave
You 's got to ease yo'se'f an' sta've.
But ef dey 's co'n meal on de she'f
You need n't bothah 'roun' yo'se'f,
Somebody's boun' to amble in
An' 'vite you to dey co'n meal bin;
An' ef you 's stuffed up to be froat
Wid co'n er middlin', fowl er shoat,
Des' look out an' you 'll see fu' sho
A 'possum faint befo' yo' do'.
De way t'ings happen, huhuh, chile,
Dis worl' 's done puzzled me one w'ile;
I 's mighty skeered I 'll fall in doubt,
I des' won't try to reason out
De reason why folks strive an' plan
A dinnah fu' a full-fed man,
An' shet de do' an' cross de street
F'om one dat raaly needs to eat.
Scheme | AABBCCDD EEFFGGHA HHIIEEXX AFJJBBKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 1111100 11111101 11111111 110111011 11111101 11111101 11011111 11111111 1111111 1111111 111111101 11111111 111010 111111111 11111111111 11111111111 111111111 1011100 111111111 111111111 11101101 111111111 0101111 11110110 111110111 1110111101 11111101 11011111 0110111 11111111 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,103 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 197 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 58 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 102 Views
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"De Way T'ings Come" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28696/de-way-t%27ings-come>.
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