Christmas
Step wid de banjo an' glide wid de fiddle,Dis ain' no time fu' to pottah an' piddle:Fu' Christmas is comin', it's right on de way,An' dey's houahs to dance 'fo' de break o' de day.
What if de win' is taihin' an' whistlin'?Look at dat' fiah how hit's spittin' an' bristlin'!Heat in de ashes an' heat in de cindahs,Ol' mistah Fros' kin des look thoo de windahs.
Heat up de toddy an' pas' de wa'm glasses,Don' stop to shivah at blowin's an' blas'es,Keep on de kittle an' keep it a-hummin',Eat all an' drink all, dey's lots o' a-comin'.Look hyeah, Maria, don't open dat oven,Want all dese people a-pushin' an' shovin'?
Res' f'om de dance? Yes, you done cotch dat odah,Mammy done cotch it, an' law! hit nigh flo'd huh;'Possum is monst'ous fu' mekin' folks fin' it!Come, draw yo' cheers up, I's sho' I do' min' it.Eat up dem critters, you men folks an' wimmens,'Possums ain' skace w'en dey's lots o' pu'simmons.
Words in this poem
- banjo n.
- A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.
- piddle v. i.
- To deal in trifles; to concern one's self with trivial matters rather than with those that are important. Ascham. [Cf. dial. Sw. pittla to keep picking at, Sw. peta to pick.]
- toddy n.
- A juice drawn from various kinds of palms in the East Indies; or, a spirituous liquor procured from it by fermentation. [Formed from Hind. ta the juice of the palmyra tree, popularly, toddy, fr. ta the palmyra tree, Skr. tala.]
- kittle v. i.
- To bring forth young, as a cat; to kitten; to litter. [Prov. [Cf. Kit a kitten.]
- mammy n.
- A child's name for mamma, mother.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Christmas 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, Christmas, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/christmas.html, id L00873.
Form and metre
Christmas is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in dactylic 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 AABB fiddleA · piddleA · wayB · dayB
- 2 AABB whistlinA · bristlinA · cindahsB · windahsB
- 3 --AA-A glasses · blas'es · humminA · cominA · oven · shovinA
- 4 --AA-- odah · huh · itA · itA · wimmens · pu'simmons
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Step wid de banjo an' glide wid de fiddle, | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| Dis ain' no time fu' to pottah an' piddle: | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Fu' Christmas is comin', it's right on de way, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| An' dey's houahs to dance 'fo' de break o' de day. | 11 | ··········· |
| What if de win' is taihin' an' whistlin'? | 10 | ·········· |
| Look at dat' fiah how hit's spittin' an' bristlin'! | 11 | ··········· |
| Heat in de ashes an' heat in de cindahs, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Ol' mistah Fros' kin des look thoo de windahs. | 11 | ··········· |
| Heat up de toddy an' pas' de wa'm glasses, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Don' stop to shivah at blowin's an' blas'es, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Keep on de kittle an' keep it a-hummin', | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Eat all an' drink all, dey's lots o' a-comin'. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Look hyeah, Maria, don't open dat oven, | 11 | ··˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Want all dese people a-pushin' an' shovin'? | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Res' f'om de dance? Yes, you done cotch dat odah, | 11 | ··········· |
| Mammy done cotch it, an' law! hit nigh flo'd huh; | 11 | /˘········· |
| 'Possum is monst'ous fu' mekin' folks fin' it! | 11 | /˘········· |
| Come, draw yo' cheers up, I's sho' I do' min' it. | 11 | ··········· |
| Eat up dem critters, you men folks an' wimmens, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| 'Possums ain' skace w'en dey's lots o' pu'simmons. | 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.