Advice
W'en you full o' worry'Bout yo' wo'k an' sich,W'en you kind o' botheredCase you can't get rich,An' yo' neighboh p'ospahPast his jest desu'ts,An' de sneer of comerdsStuhes yo' heaht an' hu'ts,Des don' pet yo' worries,Lay 'em on de she'f,Tek a little troubleBrothah, wid yo'se'f.
Ef a frien' comes mou'nin''Bout his awful case,You know you don' grieve himWid a gloomy face,But you wrassle wid him,Try to tek him in;Dough hit cracks yo' features,Law, you smile lak sin,Ain't you good ez he is?Don' you pine to def;Tek a little troubleBrothah, wid yo'se'f.
Ef de chillun pestahs,An' de baby's bad,Ef yo' wife gits narvous,An' you're gettin' mad,Des you grab yo' boot-strops,Hol' yo' body down,Stop a-tinkin' cuss-w'rds,Chase away de frown,Knock de haid o' worry,Twell dey ain' none lef';Tek a little trouble,Brothah, wid yo'se'f.
Words in this poem
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- grab n.
- A vessel used on the Malabar coast, having two or three masts. [Ar. & Hind. ghur crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Advice 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, Advice, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/advice.html, id L00833.
Form and metre
Advice is 36 lines in 3 stanzas of 12 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.5 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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-B-B---- worry · sichA · bothered · richA · p'ospah · desu'tsB · comerds · hu'tsB · worries · she'f · trouble · yo'se'f
- 2 -ABABCDCD--- mou'nin · caseA · himB · faceA · himB · inC · featuresD · sinC · isD · def · trouble · yo'se'f
- 3 -A-A-B-B---- pestahs · badA · narvous · madA · strops · downB · — · frownB · worry · lef · trouble · yo'se'f
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| W'en you full o' worry | 6 | ····/˘ |
| 'Bout yo' wo'k an' sich, | 5 | ····· |
| W'en you kind o' bothered | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Case you can't get rich, | 5 | ····· |
| An' yo' neighboh p'ospah | 6 | ······ |
| Past his jest desu'ts, | 5 | ····· |
| An' de sneer of comerds | 6 | ······ |
| Stuhes yo' heaht an' hu'ts, | 5 | ····· |
| Des don' pet yo' worries, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Lay 'em on de she'f, | 5 | ····· |
| Tek a little trouble | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Brothah, wid yo'se'f. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Ef a frien' comes mou'nin' | 6 | ······ |
| 'Bout his awful case, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| You know you don' grieve him | 6 | ······ |
| Wid a gloomy face, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| But you wrassle wid him, | 6 | ······ |
| Try to tek him in; | 5 | ····· |
| Dough hit cracks yo' features, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Law, you smile lak sin, | 5 | ····· |
| Ain't you good ez he is? | 6 | ······ |
| Don' you pine to def; | 5 | ····· |
| Tek a little trouble | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Brothah, wid yo'se'f. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Ef de chillun pestahs, | 6 | ······ |
| An' de baby's bad, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Ef yo' wife gits narvous, | 6 | ······ |
| An' you're gettin' mad, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Des you grab yo' boot-strops, | 6 | ······ |
| Hol' yo' body down, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Stop a-tinkin' cuss-w'rds, | 6 | ······ |
| Chase away de frown, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Knock de haid o' worry, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Twell dey ain' none lef'; | 5 | ····· |
| Tek a little trouble, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Brothah, wid yo'se'f. | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.