Analysis of Philosophy
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
I been t'inkin' 'bout de preachah; whut he said de othah night,
'Bout hit bein' people's dooty, fu' to keep dey faces bright;
How one ought to live so pleasant dat ouah tempah never riles,
Meetin' evahbody roun' us wid ouah very nicest smiles.
Dat 's all right, I ain't a-sputin' not a t'ing dat soun's lak fac',
But you don't ketch folks a-grinnin' wid a misery in de back;
An' you don't fin' dem a-smilin' w'en dey 's hongry ez kin be,
Leastways, dat 's how human natur' allus seems to 'pear to me.
We is mos' all putty likely fu' to have our little cares,
An' I think we 'se doin' fus' rate w'en we jes' go long and bears,
Widout breakin' up ouah faces in a sickly so't o' grin,
W'en we knows dat in ouah innards we is p'intly mad ez sin.
Oh dey 's times fu' bein' pleasant an' fu' goin' smilin' roun',
'Cause I don't believe in people allus totin' roun' a frown,
But it's easy 'nough to titter w'en de stew is smokin' hot,
But hit's mighty ha'd to giggle w'en dey's nuffin' in de pot.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF FXGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111111111111 1111011111101 11111110111101 11111110101 1111110110111111 111110110100011 11111011001111111 1111101111111 1111101011110101 111111111001111101 11111000101111 10011110110111111 1111111011111 1110101011101 11101110100111111 11101110100111011 |
Characters | 981 |
Words | 195 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 45 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 178 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 16, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 201 Views
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"Philosophy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28828/philosophy>.
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