A Plantation Melody
De trees is bendin' in de sto'm,De rain done hid de mountain's fo'm,I 's 'lone an' in distress.But listen, dah 's a voice I hyeah,A-sayin' to me, loud an' cleah,"Lay low in de wildaness."
De lightnin' flash, de bough sway low,My po' sick hea't is trimblin' so,It hu'ts my very breas'.But him dat give de lightnin' powahJes' bids me in de tryin' howah"Lay low in de wildaness."
O brothah, w'en de tempes' beat,An' w'en yo' weary head an' feetCan't fin' no place to res',Jes' 'membah dat de Mastah 's nigh,An' putty soon you 'll hyeah de cry,"Lay low in de wildaness."
O sistah, w'en de rain come down,An' all yo' hopes is 'bout to drown,Don't trus' de Mastah less.He smilin' w'en you t'ink he frown,He ain' gwine let yo' soul sink down--Lay low in de wildaness.
About this text
A Plantation Melody is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, A Plantation Melody, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/a-plantation-melody.html, id L00747.
Form and metre
A Plantation Melody is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABCCB sto'mA · fo'mA · distressB · hyeahC · cleahC · wildanessB
- 2 AA-BB- lowA · soA · breas · powahB · howahB · wildaness
- 3 AA-BB- beatA · feetA · res · nighB · cryB · wildaness
- 4 AABAAB downA · drownA · lessB · frownA · downA · wildanessB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| De trees is bendin' in de sto'm, | 8 | ········ |
| De rain done hid de mountain's fo'm, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I 's 'lone an' in distress. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| But listen, dah 's a voice I hyeah, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| A-sayin' to me, loud an' cleah, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| "Lay low in de wildaness." | 7 | ······· |
| De lightnin' flash, de bough sway low, | 8 | ········ |
| My po' sick hea't is trimblin' so, | 8 | ········ |
| It hu'ts my very breas'. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But him dat give de lightnin' powah | 9 | ········· |
| Jes' bids me in de tryin' howah | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "Lay low in de wildaness." | 7 | ······· |
| O brothah, w'en de tempes' beat, | 7 | ······· |
| An' w'en yo' weary head an' feet | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Can't fin' no place to res', | 6 | ······ |
| Jes' 'membah dat de Mastah 's nigh, | 9 | ········· |
| An' putty soon you 'll hyeah de cry, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| "Lay low in de wildaness." | 7 | ······· |
| O sistah, w'en de rain come down, | 8 | ········ |
| An' all yo' hopes is 'bout to drown, | 8 | ········ |
| Don't trus' de Mastah less. | 6 | ······ |
| He smilin' w'en you t'ink he frown, | 8 | ········ |
| He ain' gwine let yo' soul sink down-- | 8 | ········ |
| Lay low in de wildaness. | 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.