Analysis of Joy in the Woods
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
There is joy in the woods just now,
The leaves are whispers of song,
And the birds make mirth on the bough
And music the whole day long,
And God! to dwell in the town
In these springlike summer days,
On my brow an unfading frown
And hate in my heart always—
A machine out of gear, aye, tired,
Yet forced to go on—for I’m hired.
Just forced to go on through fear,
For every day I must eat
And find ugly clothes to wear,
And bad shoes to hurt my feet
And a shelter for work-drugged sleep!
A mere drudge! but what can one do?
A man that’s a man cannot weep!
Suicide? A quitter? Oh, no!
But a slave should never grow tired,
Whom the masters have kindly hired.
But oh! for the woods, the flowers
Of natural, sweet perfume,
The heartening, summer showers
And the smiling shrubs in bloom,
Dust-free, dew-tinted at morn,
The fresh and life-giving air,
The billowing waves of corn
And the birds’ notes rich and clear:—
For a man-machine toil-tired
May crave beauty too—though he’s hired
Scheme | ABABCDCD EE FGHGIXIX EE JKJKLHLF EE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) |
Metre | 11100111 0111011 00111101 0100111 0111001 011101 111111 010111 001111110 111111110 1111111 11001111 0110111 0111111 00101111 01111111 01101101 1001011 101110110 101011010 11101010 1100101 01001010 0010101 1111011 0101101 0100111 0011101 10101110 111011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,056 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 2, 8, 2, 8, 2 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 196 Views
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"Joy in the Woods" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6868/joy-in-the-woods>.
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