Analysis of Speakin' O' Christmas
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
BREEZES blowin' middlin' brisk,
Snow-flakes thro' the air a-whisk,
Fallin' kind o' soft an' light,
Not enough to make things white,
But jest sorter siftin' down
So's to cover up the brown
Of the dark world's rugged ways
'N' make things look like holidays.
Not smoothed over, but jest specked,
Sorter strainin' fur effect,
An' not quite a-gittin' through
What it started in to do.
Mercy sakes! it does seem queer
Christmas day is 'most nigh here.
Somehow it don't seem to me
Christmas like it used to be,—
Christmas with its ice an' snow,
Christmas of the long ago.
You could feel its stir an' hum
Weeks an' weeks before it come;
Somethin' in the atmosphere
Told you when the day was near,
Didn't need no almanacs;
That was one o' Nature's fac's.
Every cottage decked out gay —
Cedar wreaths an' holly spray —
An' the stores, how they were drest,
Tinsel tell you couldn't rest;
Every winder fixed up pat,
Candy canes, an' things like that;
Noah's arks, an' guns, an' dolls,
An' all kinds o' fol-de-rols.
Then with frosty bells a-chime,
Slidin' down the hills o' time,
Right amidst the fun an' din
Christmas come a-bustlin' in,
Raised his cheery voice to call
Out a welcome to us all.
Hale and hearty, strong an' bluff,
That was Christmas, sure enough.
Snow knee-deep an' coastin' fine,
Frozen mill-ponds all ashine,
Seemin' jest to lay in wait,
Beggin' you to come an' skate.
An' you'd git your gal an' go
Stumpin' cheerily thro' the snow,
Feelin' pleased an' skeert an' warm
'Cause she had a-holt yore arm.
Why, when Christmas come in, we
Spent the whole glad day in glee,
Havin' fun an' feastin' high
An' some courtin' on the sly.
Bustin' in some neighbor's door
An' then suddenly, before
He could give his voice a lift,
Yellin' at him, 'Christmas gift.'
Now sich things are never heard,
'Merry Christmas' is the word.
But it's only change o' name,
An' means givin' jest the same.
There's too many new-styled ways
Now about the holidays.
I'd jest like once more to see
Christmas like it used to be!
Scheme | aabbccddbxeefxgGhhi iffddjjbxkkxdllmmnnooxcpphhxxggqqrrssttuuddgG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111 1110101 1011111 1011111 111011 1110101 1011101 1111110 1110111 101101 111011 1110011 1011111 1011111 111111 1011111 1011111 1010101 1111111 1110111 10010 1110111 10111 1111101 10010111 1011101 1011101 1011101 10010111 1011111 1011111 1111111 1110101 110111 1010111 101010 1110111 1010111 1010111 1110101 111111 101111 111101 111111 1111111 11101 111111 1110111 1110101 1011101 11111 111101 1001101 1110001 1111101 1011101 1111101 1010101 1110111 111101 1110111 101010 1111111 1011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,952 |
Words | 363 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 19, 45 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 750 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 180 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 98 Views
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"Speakin' O' Christmas" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28867/speakin%27-o%27-christmas>.
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