Harlem Wine
This is not water running here,These thick rebellious streamsThat hurtle flesh and bone past fearDown alleyways of dreams.
This is a wine that must flow onNot caring how nor where,So it has ways to flow uponWhere song is in the air.
So it can woo an artful fluteWith loose, elastic lips,Its measurement of joy computeWith blithe, ecstatic hips.
Words in this poem
- rebellious a.
- Engaged in rebellion; disposed to rebel of the nature of rebels or of rebellion; resisting government or lawful authority by force.
- hurtle v. i.
- To meet with violence or shock; to clash; to jostle. [OE. hurtlen, freq. of hurten. See Hurt, v. t., and cf. Hurl.]
- artful a.
- Performed with, or characterized by, art or skill. [From Art.]
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Harlem Wine 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, Harlem Wine, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/harlem-wine.html, id L01424.
Form and metre
Harlem Wine is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 50% 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 hereA · streamsB · fearA · dreamsB
- 2 ABAB onA · whereB · uponA · airB
- 3 ABAB fluteA · lipsB · computeA · hipsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is not water running here, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| These thick rebellious streams | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| That hurtle flesh and bone past fear | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Down alleyways of dreams. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| This is a wine that must flow on | 8 | ········ |
| Not caring how nor where, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| So it has ways to flow upon | 8 | ········ |
| Where song is in the air. | 6 | ······ |
| So it can woo an artful flute | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With loose, elastic lips, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Its measurement of joy compute | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| With blithe, ecstatic hips. | 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.