Accountability
Folks ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits;Him dat giv' de squir'ls de bushtails made de bobtails fu' de rabbits.Him dat built de gread big mountains hollered out de little valleys,Him dat made de streets an' driveways wasn't shamed to make de alleys.
We is all constructed diff'ent, d'ain't no two of us de same;We cain't he'p ouah likes an' dislikes, ef we'se bad we ain't to blame.Ef we 'se good, we need n't show off, case you bet it ain't ouah doin'We gits into su'ttain channels dat we jes' cain't he'p pu'suin'.
But we all fits into places dat no othah ones could fill,An' we does the things we has to, big er little, good er ill.John cain't tek de place o' Henry, Su an' Sally ain't alike;Bass ain't nuthin' like a suckah, chub ain't nuthin' like a pike.
When you come to think about it, how it 's all planned out it 's splendid.Nuthin 's done er evah happens, 'dout hit 's somefin' dat 's intended;Don't keer whut you does, you has to, an' hit sholy beats de dickens,--Viney, go put on de kittle, I got one o' mastah's chickens.
Words in this poem
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- kittle v. i.
- To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter. [Prov. [Cf. Kit a kitten.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Accountability 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, Accountability, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/accountability.html, id L00484.
Form and metre
Accountability is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 16.1 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic octameter.
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 AABB habitsA · rabbitsA · valleysB · alleysB
- 2 AA-- sameA · blameA · doin · pu'suin
- 3 AABB fillA · illA · alikeB · pikeB
- 4 AABB splendidA · intendedA · dickensB · chickensB
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Folks ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits; | 16 | ··············/˘ |
| Him dat giv' de squir'ls de bushtails made de bobtails fu' de rabbits. | 16 | ··············/˘ |
| Him dat built de gread big mountains hollered out de little valleys, | 16 | ······/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Him dat made de streets an' driveways wasn't shamed to make de alleys. | 16 | ······/·/˘····/˘ |
| We is all constructed diff'ent, d'ain't no two of us de same; | 15 | ···˘/˘········· |
| We cain't he'p ouah likes an' dislikes, ef we'se bad we ain't to blame. | 15 | ······˘/······· |
| Ef we 'se good, we need n't show off, case you bet it ain't ouah doin' | 18 | ··//············/˘ |
| We gits into su'ttain channels dat we jes' cain't he'p pu'suin'. | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| But we all fits into places dat no othah ones could fill, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| An' we does the things we has to, big er little, good er ill. | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| John cain't tek de place o' Henry, Su an' Sally ain't alike; | 15 | ······/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Bass ain't nuthin' like a suckah, chub ain't nuthin' like a pike. | 15 | ··············· |
| When you come to think about it, how it 's all planned out it 's splendid. | 18 | ················/˘ |
| Nuthin 's done er evah happens, 'dout hit 's somefin' dat 's intended; | 20 | ·······/˘········˘/˘ |
| Don't keer whut you does, you has to, an' hit sholy beats de dickens,-- | 16 | ··············/˘ |
| Viney, go put on de kittle, I got one o' mastah's chickens. | 16 | /˘····/˘······/˘ |
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.