A Preference
Mastah drink his ol' Made'a,Missy drink huh sherry wine,Ovahseah lak his whiskey,But dat othah drink is mine,Des' 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah.
Wen you git a steamin' hoe-cakeOn de table, go way, man!'D ain but one t'ing to go wid it,'Sides de gravy in de pan,Dat 's 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah.
W'en hit 's 'possum dat you eatin','Simmon beer is moughty sweet;But fu' evahday consumin''D ain't no mo'tal way to beatDes' 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah.
W'y de bees is allus busy,An' ain' got no time to was'?Hit's beca'se dey knows de honeyDey 's a makin', gwine to tas'Lak 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah.
Oh, hit 's moughty mil' an' soothin',An' hit don' go to yo' haid;Dat 's de reason I 's a-backin'Up de othah wo'ds I said,"Des 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah."
Words in this poem
- missy n.
- An affectionate, or contemptuous, form of miss; a young girl; a miss.
- whiskey n.
- A light carriage built for rapid motion; -- called also tim- whiskey. [See Whisk, v. t. & n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Preference 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 Preference, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/a-preference.html, id L00779.
Form and metre
A Preference is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 -A-A- made'a · wineA · whiskey · mineA · watah
- 2 -A-A- cake · manA · it · panA · watah
- 3 ABAB- eatinA · sweetB · consuminA · beatB · watah
- 5 A-A-- soothinA · haid · backinA · said · watah
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mastah drink his ol' Made'a, | 7 | ······· |
| Missy drink huh sherry wine, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Ovahseah lak his whiskey, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But dat othah drink is mine, | 7 | ······· |
| Des' 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah. | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| Wen you git a steamin' hoe-cake | 8 | ········ |
| On de table, go way, man! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| 'D ain but one t'ing to go wid it, | 9 | ········· |
| 'Sides de gravy in de pan, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Dat 's 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah. | 12 | ··/˘···/˘··· |
| W'en hit 's 'possum dat you eatin', | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| 'Simmon beer is moughty sweet; | 7 | /˘····· |
| But fu' evahday consumin' | 8 | ········ |
| 'D ain't no mo'tal way to beat | 8 | ········ |
| Des' 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah. | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| W'y de bees is allus busy, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| An' ain' got no time to was'? | 7 | ······· |
| Hit's beca'se dey knows de honey | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Dey 's a makin', gwine to tas' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Lak 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah. | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
| Oh, hit 's moughty mil' an' soothin', | 9 | ········· |
| An' hit don' go to yo' haid; | 7 | ······· |
| Dat 's de reason I 's a-backin' | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Up de othah wo'ds I said, | 7 | ······· |
| "Des 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah." | 11 | ·/˘···/˘··· |
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.