Differences
My neighbor lives on the hill,And I in the valley dwell,My neighbor must look down on me,Must I look up?--ah, well,My neighbor lives on the hill,And I in the valley dwell.
My neighbor reads, and prays,And I--I laugh, God wot,And sing like a bird when the grass is greenIn my small garden plot;But ah, he reads and prays,And I--I laugh, God wot.
His face is a book of woe,And mine is a song of glee;A slave he is to the great "They say,"But I--I am bold and free;No wonder he smacks of woe,And I have the tang of glee.
My neighbor thinks me a fool,"The same to yourself," say I;"Why take your books and take your prayers,Give me the open sky;"My neighbor thinks me a fool,"The same to yourself," say I.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Differences 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, Differences, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/differences.html, id L00745.
Form and metre
Differences is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables.
See other poems in iambic 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 AB-BAB hillA · dwellB · me · wellB · hillA · dwellB
- 2 AB--AB praysA · wotB · green · plot · praysA · wotB
- 3 AB-BAB woeA · gleeB · say · freeB · woeA · gleeB
- 4 AB-BAB foolA · iB · prayers · skyB · foolA · iB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My neighbor lives on the hill, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And I in the valley dwell, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| My neighbor must look down on me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Must I look up?--ah, well, | 6 | ······ |
| My neighbor lives on the hill, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And I in the valley dwell. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| My neighbor reads, and prays, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And I--I laugh, God wot, | 6 | ······ |
| And sing like a bird when the grass is green | 10 | ·········· |
| In my small garden plot; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But ah, he reads and prays, | 6 | ······ |
| And I--I laugh, God wot. | 6 | ······ |
| His face is a book of woe, | 7 | ······· |
| And mine is a song of glee; | 7 | ······· |
| A slave he is to the great "They say," | 9 | ········· |
| But I--I am bold and free; | 7 | ······· |
| No wonder he smacks of woe, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And I have the tang of glee. | 7 | ······· |
| My neighbor thinks me a fool, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| "The same to yourself," say I; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| "Why take your books and take your prayers, | 8 | ········ |
| Give me the open sky;" | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My neighbor thinks me a fool, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| "The same to yourself," say I. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
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.