Suicide Chant
I am the seedThe Sower sowed;I am the deedHis hand bestowedUpon the world.
Censure me notIf a rank weed floodThe garden plot,Instead of a budTo be unfurled.
Bridle your blameIf the deed prove lessThan the bruited fameWith which it cameFrom nothingness.
The seed of a weedCannot be flowered,Nor a hero’s deedSpring from a coward.
Pull up the weed;Bring plow and mower;Then fetch new seedFor the hand of the Sower.
Words in this poem
- sower n.
- One who, or that which, sows.
- mower n.
- One who, or that which, mows; a mowing machine; as, a lawn mower.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Suicide Chant 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, Suicide Chant, in Color (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cullen-color/suicide-chant.html, id L01473.
Form and metre
Suicide Chant is 23 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.5 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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- seedA · sowedB · deedA · bestowedB · world
- 2 ABAB- notA · floodB · plotA · budB · unfurled
- 3 ABAAB blameA · lessB · fameA · cameA · nothingnessB
- 4 ABAB weedA · floweredB · deedA · cowardB
- 5 ABAB weedA · mowerB · seedA · sowerB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am the seed | 4 | ···· |
| The Sower sowed; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I am the deed | 4 | ···· |
| His hand bestowed | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Upon the world. | 4 | ···· |
| Censure me not | 4 | /˘·· |
| If a rank weed flood | 5 | ····· |
| The garden plot, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Instead of a bud | 5 | ˘/··· |
| To be unfurled. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Bridle your blame | 4 | /˘·· |
| If the deed prove less | 5 | ····· |
| Than the bruited fame | 5 | ····· |
| With which it came | 4 | ···· |
| From nothingness. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| The seed of a weed | 5 | ····· |
| Cannot be flowered, | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| Nor a hero’s deed | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Spring from a coward. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Pull up the weed; | 4 | ···· |
| Bring plow and mower; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Then fetch new seed | 4 | ···· |
| For the hand of the Sower. | 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.