Analysis of Long Ago

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



De ol' time's gone, de new time's hyeah
Wid all hits fuss an' feddahs;
I done fu'got de joy an' cheah
We knowed all kin's o' weddahs,
I done fu'got each ol'-time hymn
We ust to sing in meetin';
I 's leahned de prah's, so neat an' trim,
De preachah keeps us 'peatin'.

Hang a vine by de chimney side,
An' one by de cabin do';
An' sing a song fu' de day dat died,
De day of long ergo.

My youf, hit's gone, yes, long ergo,
An' yit I ain't a-moanin';
Hit 's fu' somet'ings I ust to know
I set to-night a-honin'.
De pallet on de ol' plank flo',
De rain bar'l und' de eaves,
De live oak 'fo' de cabin do',
Whaih de night dove comes an' grieves.

Hang a vine by de chimney side,
An' one by de cabin do';
An' sing a song fu' de day dat died,
De day of long ergo.

I 'd lak a few ol' frien's to-night
To come an' set wid me;
An' let me feel dat ol' delight
I ust to in dey glee.
But hyeah we is, my pipe an' me,
Wid no one else erbout;
We bofe is choked ez choked kin be,
An' bofe 'll soon go out.

Hang a vine by de chimney side,
An' one by de cabin do';
An' sing a song fu' de day dat died,
De day of long ergo.


Scheme xaxabbbb CDCE ebebeada CDCE fgfggcgx CDCE
Poetic Form Song
Metre 11111111 111111 11111111 111111 11111111 111101 111111111 11111 10111101 1111101 110111111 111110 11111110 111101 11111111 111101 11011111 1111111 11111101 1111111 10111101 1111101 110111111 111110 111011111 111111 11111101 111011 11111111 11111 11111111 111111 10111101 1111101 110111111 111110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,073
Words 241
Sentences 9
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 8, 4, 8, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 128
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 08, 2023

1:15 min read
122

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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