Confessional
Search thou my heart;If there be guile,It shall departBefore thy smile.
Search thou my soul;Be there deceit,'T will vanish wholeBefore thee, sweet.
Upon my mindTurn thy pure lens;Naught shalt thou findThou canst not cleanse.
If I should pray,I scarcely knowIn just what wayMy prayers would go.
So strong in meI feel love's leaven,I 'd bow to theeAs soon as Heaven!
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Confessional 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, Confessional, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/confessional.html, id L00645.
Form and metre
Confessional is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABAB heartA · guileB · departA · smileB
- 2 ABAB soulA · deceitB · wholeA · sweetB
- 3 ABAB mindA · lensB · findA · cleanseB
- 4 ABAB prayA · knowB · wayA · goB
- 5 ABAB meA · leavenB · theeA · heavenB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Search thou my heart; | 4 | ···· |
| If there be guile, | 4 | ···· |
| It shall depart | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Before thy smile. | 4 | ···· |
| Search thou my soul; | 4 | ···· |
| Be there deceit, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| 'T will vanish whole | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Before thee, sweet. | 4 | ···· |
| Upon my mind | 4 | ···· |
| Turn thy pure lens; | 4 | ···· |
| Naught shalt thou find | 4 | ···· |
| Thou canst not cleanse. | 4 | ···· |
| If I should pray, | 4 | ···· |
| I scarcely know | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In just what way | 4 | ···· |
| My prayers would go. | 4 | ···· |
| So strong in me | 4 | ···· |
| I feel love's leaven, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I 'd bow to thee | 5 | ····· |
| As soon as Heaven! | 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.