Dinah Kneading Dough
I have seen full many a sightBorn of day or drawn by night:Sunlight on a silver stream,Golden lilies all a-dream,Lofty mountains, bold and proud,Veiled beneath the lacelike cloud;But no lovely sight I knowEquals Dinah kneading dough.
Brown arms buried elbow-deepTheir domestic rhythm keep,As with steady sweep they goThrough the gently yielding dough.Maids may vaunt their finer charms--Naught to me like Dinah's arms;Girls may draw, or paint, or sew--I love Dinah kneading dough.
Eyes of jet and teeth of pearl,Hair, some say, too tight a-curl;But the dainty maid I deemVery near perfection's dream.Swift she works, and only flingsMe a glance--the least of things.And I wonder, does she knowThat my heart is in the dough?
Words in this poem
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dinah Kneading Dough 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, Dinah Kneading Dough, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/dinah-kneading-dough.html, id L00739.
Form and metre
Dinah Kneading Dough is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 29% 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 AABBCCDD sightA · nightA · streamB · dreamB · proudC · cloudC · knowD · doughD
- 2 AABBCCBB deepA · keepA · goB · doughB · charmsC · armsC · sewB · doughB
- 3 AABBCCDD pearlA · curlA · deemB · dreamB · flingsC · thingsC · knowD · doughD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I have seen full many a sight | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Born of day or drawn by night: | 7 | ······· |
| Sunlight on a silver stream, | 7 | /···/˘· |
| Golden lilies all a-dream, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Lofty mountains, bold and proud, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Veiled beneath the lacelike cloud; | 8 | ········ |
| But no lovely sight I know | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Equals Dinah kneading dough. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Brown arms buried elbow-deep | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| Their domestic rhythm keep, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| As with steady sweep they go | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Through the gently yielding dough. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Maids may vaunt their finer charms-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Naught to me like Dinah's arms; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Girls may draw, or paint, or sew-- | 7 | ······· |
| I love Dinah kneading dough. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Eyes of jet and teeth of pearl, | 7 | ······· |
| Hair, some say, too tight a-curl; | 7 | ······· |
| But the dainty maid I deem | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Very near perfection's dream. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Swift she works, and only flings | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Me a glance--the least of things. | 7 | ······· |
| And I wonder, does she know | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| That my heart is in the dough? | 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.