Black Magdalens
These have no Christ to spit and stoopTo write upon the sand,Inviting him that has not sinnedTo raise the first rude hand.
And if he came they could not buyRich ointment for his feet,The body’s sale scarce yields enoughTo let the body eat.
The chaste clean ladies pass them byAnd draw their skirts aside,But Magdalens have a ready laugh;They wrap their wounds in pride.
They fare full ill since Christ forsookThe cross to mount a throne,And Virtue still is stooping downTo cast the first hard stone.
Words in this poem
- inviting a.
- Alluring; tempting; as, an inviting amusement or prospect.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Black Magdalens 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, Black Magdalens, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/black-magdalens.html, id L01420.
Form and metre
Black Magdalens is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 44% 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 -A-A stoop · sandA · sinned · handA
- 2 -A-A buy · feetA · enough · eatA
- 3 -A-A by · asideA · laugh · prideA
- 4 -A-A forsook · throneA · down · stoneA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| These have no Christ to spit and stoop | 8 | ········ |
| To write upon the sand, | 6 | ······ |
| Inviting him that has not sinned | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| To raise the first rude hand. | 6 | ······ |
| And if he came they could not buy | 8 | ········ |
| Rich ointment for his feet, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The body’s sale scarce yields enough | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To let the body eat. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The chaste clean ladies pass them by | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And draw their skirts aside, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But Magdalens have a ready laugh; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They wrap their wounds in pride. | 6 | ······ |
| They fare full ill since Christ forsook | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The cross to mount a throne, | 6 | ······ |
| And Virtue still is stooping down | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To cast the first hard stone. | 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.