A Song of Praise
You have not heard my love’s dark throat,Slow-fluting like a reed,Release the perfect golden noteShe caged there for my need.
Her walk is like the replicaOf some barbaric danceWherein the soul of AfricaIs winged with arrogance.
And yet so light she steps acrossThe ways her sure feet pass,She does not dent the smoothest mossOr bend the thinnest grass.
My love is dark as yours is fair,Yet lovelier I hold herThan listless maids with pallid hair,And blood that’s thin and colder.
You-proud-and-to-be-pitied one,Gaze on her and despair;Then seal your lips until the sunDiscovers one as fair.
Words in this poem
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
- replica n.
- A copy of a work of art, as of a picture or satue, made by the maker of the original. [It. See Reply, v. & n.]
- barbaric a.
- Of, or from, barbarian nations; foreign; -- often with reference to barbarous nations of east. [L. barbaricus foreign, barbaric, Gr. .]
- dent n.
- A stroke; a blow. [A variant of Dint.]
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song of Praise is in the public domain. This text is taken from Color, Project Gutenberg ebook #70543; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Countee Cullen, A Song of Praise, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/a-song-of-praise.html, id L01415.
Form and metre
A Song of Praise is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB throatA · reedB · noteA · needB
- 2 -A-A replica · danceA · africa · arroganceA
- 3 ABAB acrossA · passB · mossA · grassB
- 4 A-A- fairA · her · hairA · colder
- 5 ABAB oneA · despairB · sunA · fairB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| You have not heard my love’s dark throat, | 8 | ········ |
| Slow-fluting like a reed, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Release the perfect golden note | 8 | ˘/·/·/˘· |
| She caged there for my need. | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Her walk is like the replica | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of some barbaric dance | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Wherein the soul of Africa | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Is winged with arrogance. | 7 | ··˘·/˘˘ |
| And yet so light she steps across | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The ways her sure feet pass, | 6 | ······ |
| She does not dent the smoothest moss | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or bend the thinnest grass. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My love is dark as yours is fair, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet lovelier I hold her | 7 | ······· |
| Than listless maids with pallid hair, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And blood that’s thin and colder. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| You-proud-and-to-be-pitied one, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Gaze on her and despair; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Then seal your lips until the sun | 8 | ········ |
| Discovers one as fair. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.