Dely
Jes' lak toddy wahms you thoo'Sets yo' haid a reelin',Meks you ovah good and new,Dat 's de way I 's feelin'.Seems to me hit 's summah time,Dough hit 's wintah reely,I 's a feelin' jes' dat prime--An' huh name is Dely.
Dis hyeah love 's a cu'rus thing,Changes 'roun' de season,Meks you sad or meks you sing,'Dout no urfly reason.Sometimes I go mopin' 'roun',Den agin I 's leapin';Sperits allus up an' downEven when I 's sleepin'.
Fu' de dreams comes to me den,An' dey keeps me pitchin',Lak de apple dumplin's w'enBilin' in de kitchen.Some one sot to do me hahm,Tryin' to ovahcome me,Ketchin' Dely by de ahmSo 's to tek huh f'om me.
Mon, you bettah b'lieve I fights(Dough hit's on'y seemin');I's a hittin' fu' my rightsEven w'en I 's dreamin'.But I 'd let you have 'em all,Give 'em to you freely,Good an' bad ones, great an' small,So 's you leave me Dely.
Dely got dem meltin' eyes,Big an' black an' tendah.Dely jes' a lady-size,Delikit an' slendah.Dely brown ez brown kin beAn' huh haih is curly;Oh, she look so sweet to me,--Bless de precious girlie!
Dely brown ez brown kin be,She ain' no mullatter;She pure cullud,--don' you seeDat 's jes' whut 's de mattah?Dat 's de why I love huh so,D' ain't no mix about huh,Soon 's you see huh face you knowD' ain't no chanst to doubt huh.
Folks dey go to chu'ch an' praySo 's to git a blessin'.Oomph, dey bettah come my way,Dey could lu'n a lesson.Sabbaf day I don' go fu',Jes' to see my pigeon;I jes' sets an' looks at huh,Dat's enuff 'uligion.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- 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
Dely 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, Dely, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/dely.html, id L00691.
Form and metre
Dely is 56 lines in 7 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% 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 ABABC-C- thooA · reelinB · newA · feelinB · timeC · reely · primeC · dely
- 2 ABAB-CBC thingA · seasonB · singA · reasonB · roun · leapinC · downB · sleepinC
- 3 A-AABCBC denA · pitchin · w'enA · kitchenA · hahmB · meC · ahmB · meC
- 4 ABABC-C- fightsA · seeminB · rightsA · dreaminB · allC · freely · smallC · dely
- 5 ABABCDCD eyesA · tendahB · sizeA · slendahB · beC · curlyD · meC · girlieD
- 6 A-A-BCBC beA · mullatter · seeA · mattah · soB · huhC · knowB · huhC
- 7 A-A--B-B prayA · blessin · wayA · lesson · fu · pigeonB · huh · uligionB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Jes' lak toddy wahms you thoo' | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sets yo' haid a reelin', | 6 | ······ |
| Meks you ovah good and new, | 7 | ······· |
| Dat 's de way I 's feelin'. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Seems to me hit 's summah time, | 8 | ········ |
| Dough hit 's wintah reely, | 7 | ······· |
| I 's a feelin' jes' dat prime-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' huh name is Dely. | 6 | ······ |
| Dis hyeah love 's a cu'rus thing, | 8 | ········ |
| Changes 'roun' de season, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Meks you sad or meks you sing, | 7 | ······· |
| 'Dout no urfly reason. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Sometimes I go mopin' 'roun', | 7 | ˘/····· |
| Den agin I 's leapin'; | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Sperits allus up an' down | 7 | ······· |
| Even when I 's sleepin'. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Fu' de dreams comes to me den, | 7 | ······· |
| An' dey keeps me pitchin', | 6 | ······ |
| Lak de apple dumplin's w'en | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bilin' in de kitchen. | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Some one sot to do me hahm, | 7 | ······· |
| Tryin' to ovahcome me, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ketchin' Dely by de ahm | 7 | ······· |
| So 's to tek huh f'om me. | 7 | ······· |
| Mon, you bettah b'lieve I fights | 7 | ······· |
| (Dough hit's on'y seemin'); | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| I's a hittin' fu' my rights | 7 | ······· |
| Even w'en I 's dreamin'. | 7 | /˘····· |
| But I 'd let you have 'em all, | 8 | ········ |
| Give 'em to you freely, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Good an' bad ones, great an' small, | 7 | ······· |
| So 's you leave me Dely. | 7 | ······· |
| Dely got dem meltin' eyes, | 7 | ······· |
| Big an' black an' tendah. | 6 | ······ |
| Dely jes' a lady-size, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Delikit an' slendah. | 6 | ······ |
| Dely brown ez brown kin be | 7 | ······· |
| An' huh haih is curly; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Oh, she look so sweet to me,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Bless de precious girlie! | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Dely brown ez brown kin be, | 7 | ······· |
| She ain' no mullatter; | 6 | ······ |
| She pure cullud,--don' you see | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Dat 's jes' whut 's de mattah? | 8 | ········ |
| Dat 's de why I love huh so, | 8 | ········ |
| D' ain't no mix about huh, | 7 | ······· |
| Soon 's you see huh face you know | 8 | ········ |
| D' ain't no chanst to doubt huh. | 7 | ······· |
| Folks dey go to chu'ch an' pray | 7 | ······· |
| So 's to git a blessin'. | 7 | ······· |
| Oomph, dey bettah come my way, | 7 | ······· |
| Dey could lu'n a lesson. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Sabbaf day I don' go fu', | 7 | ······· |
| Jes' to see my pigeon; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| I jes' sets an' looks at huh, | 7 | ······· |
| Dat's enuff 'uligion. | 6 | ······ |
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.