On Going
A grave is all too weak a thingTo hold my fancy long;I’ll bear a blossom with the spring,Or be a blackbird’s song,
I think that I shall fade with ease,Melt into earth like snow,Be food for hungry, growing trees,Or help the lilies blow.
And if my love should lonely walk,Quite of my nearness fain,I may come back to her, and talkIn liquid words of rain.
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,]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Going 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, On Going, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/on-going.html, id L01483.
Form and metre
On Going 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 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 17% 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 thingA · longB · springA · songB
- 2 ABAB easeA · snowB · treesA · blowB
- 3 ABAB walkA · fainB · talkA · rainB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A grave is all too weak a thing | 8 | ········ |
| To hold my fancy long; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I’ll bear a blossom with the spring, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or be a blackbird’s song, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I think that I shall fade with ease, | 8 | ········ |
| Melt into earth like snow, | 6 | ······ |
| Be food for hungry, growing trees, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or help the lilies blow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And if my love should lonely walk, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Quite of my nearness fain, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I may come back to her, and talk | 8 | ········ |
| In liquid words of rain. | 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.