For Donald Duff
Locked arm in arm they cross the way,The black boy and the white,The golden splendor of the day,The sable pride of night.
From lowered blinds the dark folk stare,And here the fair folk talk,Indignant that these two should dareIn unison to walk.
Oblivious to look and wordThey pass, and see no wonderThat lightning brilliant as a swordShould blaze the path of thunder.
Words in this poem
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For Donald Duff 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, For Donald Duff, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/for-donald-duff.html, id L01423.
Form and metre
For Donald Duff is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 wayA · whiteB · dayA · nightB
- 2 ABAB stareA · talkB · dareA · walkB
- 3 -A-A word · wonderA · sword · thunderA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Locked arm in arm they cross the way, | 8 | ········ |
| The black boy and the white, | 6 | ······ |
| The golden splendor of the day, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The sable pride of night. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From lowered blinds the dark folk stare, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And here the fair folk talk, | 6 | ······ |
| Indignant that these two should dare | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| In unison to walk. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Oblivious to look and word | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| They pass, and see no wonder | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That lightning brilliant as a sword | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Should blaze the path of thunder. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.