Analysis of The Colored Band
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
W'EN de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street,
Don't you people stan' daih starin'; lif' yo' feet!
Ain't dey playin'? Hip, hooray!
Stir yo' stumps an' cleah de way,
Fu' de music dat dey mekin' can't be beat.
Oh, de major man's a-swingin' of his stick,
An' de pickaninnies crowdin' roun' him thick;
In his go'geous uniform,
He's de lightnin' of de sto'm,
An' de little clouds erroun' look mighty slick.
You kin hyeah a fine perfo'mance w'en de white ban's serenade,
An' dey play dey high-toned music mighty sweet,
But hit's Sousa played in rag-time, an' hit's Rastus'on Parade,
W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street.
W'en de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street
You kin hyeah de ladies all erroun' repeat:
'Ain't dey handsome? Ain't dey gran'?
Ain't dey splendid? Goodness, lan'!
W'y dey's pu'fect f'om dey fo'heads to dey feet!'
An' sich steppin' to de music down de line,
'T ain't de music by itself dat meks it fine,
Hit's de walkin', step by step,
An' de keepin' time wid 'Hep,'
Dat it mek a common ditty soun' divine.
Oh, de white ban' play hits music, an' hit's mighty good to hyeah,
An' it sometimes leaves a ticklin' in yo' feet;
But de hea't goes into bus'ness fu' to he'p erlong de eah,
W'en de colo'ed ban' goes marchin' down de street.
Scheme | AabbaccddceaeAAaffagghhgiaja |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100111011111111 11101110111 111101 11111011 1110111111 1110101111 1111111 01110 111111 1110111101 111011100111101 11111110101 111010111110101 100111011111111 100111011111111 1111101101 1110111 1110101 100111111111 1111110111 111101011111 111111 111111 11101010101 111111101110111 1101101011 111101111111111 10011101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,251 |
Words | 233 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 28 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 917 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 229 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 22, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 123 Views
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"The Colored Band" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28883/the-colored-band>.
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