Gods
I fast and pray and go to church,And put my penny in,But God’s not fooled by such slight tricks,And I’m not saved from sin.
I cannot hide from Him the godsThat revel in my heart,Nor can I find an easy wordTo tell them to depart:
God’s alabaster turrets gleamToo high for me to win,Unless He turns His face and letsMe bring my own gods in.
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gods 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, Gods, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/gods.html, id L01481.
Form and metre
Gods is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 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 -A-A church · inA · tricks · sinA
- 2 -A-A gods · heartA · word · departA
- 3 -A-A gleam · winA · lets · inA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I fast and pray and go to church, | 8 | ········ |
| And put my penny in, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But God’s not fooled by such slight tricks, | 8 | ········ |
| And I’m not saved from sin. | 7 | ····˘·· |
| I cannot hide from Him the gods | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That revel in my heart, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor can I find an easy word | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To tell them to depart: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| God’s alabaster turrets gleam | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Too high for me to win, | 6 | ······ |
| Unless He turns His face and lets | 8 | ········ |
| Me bring my own gods in. | 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.