Dialogue
Soul: There is no stronger thing than song;In sun and rain and leafy treesIt wafts the timid soul alongOn crested waves of melodies.
Body: But leaves the body bare to feedIts hunger with its very need.
Soul: Although the frenzied belly writhes,Yet render up in song your tithes;Song is the weakling’s oaken rod,His Jacob’s ladder dropped from God.
Body: Song is not drink; song is not meat,Nor strong, thick shoes for naked feet.
Soul: Who sings by unseen hands is fedWith honeyed milk and warm, white bread;His ways in pastures green are led,And perfumed oil illumes his head;His cup with wine is surfeited,And when the last low note is read,He sings among the lipless deadWith singing stars to crown his head.
Body: But will song buy a wooden boxThe length of me from toe to crown,To keep me safe from carrion flocksWhen singing’s done and lyre laid down?
Words in this poem
- oaken a.
- Made or consisting of oaks or of the wood of oaks. [AS. acen.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- honeyed a.
- Covered with honey.
- lipless
- , Having no lips.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dialogue 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, Dialogue, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/dialogue.html, id L01478.
Form and metre
Dialogue is 24 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 58% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 songA · treesB · alongA · melodiesB
- 2 AA feedA · needA
- 3 --AA writhes · tithes · rodA · godA
- 4 AA meatA · feetA
- 5 AAAAAAAA fedA · breadA · ledA · headA · surfeitedA · readA · deadA · headA
- 6 ABAB boxA · crownB · flocksA · downB
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Soul: There is no stronger thing than song; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| In sun and rain and leafy trees | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It wafts the timid soul along | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| On crested waves of melodies. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Body: But leaves the body bare to feed | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Its hunger with its very need. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Soul: Although the frenzied belly writhes, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Yet render up in song your tithes; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Song is the weakling’s oaken rod, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| His Jacob’s ladder dropped from God. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Body: Song is not drink; song is not meat, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Nor strong, thick shoes for naked feet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Soul: Who sings by unseen hands is fed | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| With honeyed milk and warm, white bread; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| His ways in pastures green are led, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And perfumed oil illumes his head; | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| His cup with wine is surfeited, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And when the last low note is read, | 8 | ········ |
| He sings among the lipless dead | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With singing stars to crown his head. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Body: But will song buy a wooden box | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The length of me from toe to crown, | 8 | ········ |
| To keep me safe from carrion flocks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When singing’s done and lyre laid down? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.