Analysis of Joggin' Erlong

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



De da'kest hour, dey allus say,
Is des' befo' de dawn,
But it's moughty ha'd a-waitin'
W'ere de night goes frownin' on;
An' it's moughty ha'd a-hopin'
W'en de clouds is big an' black,
An' all de t'ings you 's waited fu'
Has failed, er gone to wrack--
But des' keep on a-joggin' wid a little bit o' song,
De mo'n is allus brightah w'en de night's been long.

Dey 's lots o' knocks you 's got to tek
Befo' yo' journey 's done,
An' dey 's times w'en you 'll be wishin'
Dat de weary race was run;
W'en you want to give up tryin'
An' des' float erpon de wave,
W'en you don't feel no mo' sorrer
Ez you t'ink erbout de grave--
Den, des' keep on a-joggin' wid a little bit o' song,
De mo'n is allus brightah w'en de night's been long.

De whup-lash sting a good deal mo'
De back hit 's knowed befo',
An' de burden 's allus heavies'
Whaih hits weight has made a so';
Dey is times w'en tribulation
Seems to git de uppah han'
An' to whip de weary trav'lah
'Twell he ain't got stren'th to stan'--
But des' keep on a-joggin' wid a little bit o' song,
De mo'n is allus brightah w'en de night's been long.


Scheme xaabacdcEE xfafagxgeE hdxhfbxxEE
Poetic Form Etheree  (20%)
Metre 1110111 11111 111101 100111111 111101 1001111111 111111101 110111 1111011010111 11111110011111 1111111111 111011 111110011111 1110111 1001111111 111111 1001111111 1111111 1111011010111 11111110011111 11110111 111111 11101110 1111101 1111001010 111111 1111101 1111111 1111011010111 11111110011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,067
Words 219
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 10, 10, 10
Lines Amount 30
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 257
Words per stanza (avg) 72
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
110

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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