For Joseph Conrad
Not of the dust, but of the waveHis final couch should be;They lie not easy in a graveWho once have known the sea.How shall earth’s meagre bed enthrallThe hardiest seaman of them all?
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- meagre a.
- Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean. [OE. merge, F. maigre, L. macer; akin to D. & G. mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Gr. Emaciate, Maigre.]
- enthrall v. t.
- To hold in thrall; to enslave. See Inthrall. [Pref. en- + thrall. Cf. Inthrall.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
For Joseph Conrad 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 Joseph Conrad, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/for-joseph-conrad.html, id L01462.
Form and metre
For Joseph Conrad is 6 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables.
See 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 ABABCC waveA · beB · graveA · seaB · enthrallC · allC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not of the dust, but of the wave | 8 | ········ |
| His final couch should be; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They lie not easy in a grave | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who once have known the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| How shall earth’s meagre bed enthrall | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The hardiest seaman of them all? | 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.