Itching Heels
Fu' de peace o' my eachin' heels, set down;Don' fiddle dat chune no mo'.Don' you see how dat melody stuhs me upAn' baigs me to tek to de flo'?You knows I 's a Christian, good an' strong;I wusship f'om June to June;My pra'ahs dey ah loud an' my hymns ah long:I baig you don' fiddle dat chune.
I 's a crick in my back an' a misery hyeahWhaih de j'ints 's gittin' ol' an' stiff,But hit seems lak you brings me de bref o' my youf;W'y, I 's suttain I noticed a w'iff.Don' fiddle dat chune no mo', my chile,Don' fiddle dat chune no mo';I 'll git up an' taih up dis groun' fu' a mile,An' den I 'll be chu'ched fu' it, sho'.
Oh, fiddle dat chune some mo', I say,An' fiddle it loud an' fas':I's a youngstah ergin in de mi'st o' my sin;De p'esent 's gone back to de pas'.I 'll dance to dat chune, so des fiddle erway;I knows how de backslidah feels;So fiddle it on 'twell de break o' de dayFu' de sake o' my eachin' heels.
Words in this poem
- crick n.
- The creaking of a door, or a noise resembling it. [See Creak.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Itching Heels 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, Itching Heels, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/itching-heels.html, id L00791.
Form and metre
Itching Heels is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -A-ABCBC down · moA · up · floA · strongB · juneC · longB · chuneC
- 2 -A-A-B-B hyeah · stiffA · youf · w'iffA · chile · moB · mile · shoB
- 3 A----BAB sayA · fas · sin · pas · erway · feelsB · dayA · heelsB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Fu' de peace o' my eachin' heels, set down; | 10 | ·········· |
| Don' fiddle dat chune no mo'. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Don' you see how dat melody stuhs me up | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| An' baigs me to tek to de flo'? | 8 | ········ |
| You knows I 's a Christian, good an' strong; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I wusship f'om June to June; | 7 | ······· |
| My pra'ahs dey ah loud an' my hymns ah long: | 10 | ·········· |
| I baig you don' fiddle dat chune. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| I 's a crick in my back an' a misery hyeah | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Whaih de j'ints 's gittin' ol' an' stiff, | 9 | ········· |
| But hit seems lak you brings me de bref o' my youf; | 12 | ············ |
| W'y, I 's suttain I noticed a w'iff. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Don' fiddle dat chune no mo', my chile, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Don' fiddle dat chune no mo'; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| I 'll git up an' taih up dis groun' fu' a mile, | 12 | ············ |
| An' den I 'll be chu'ched fu' it, sho'. | 9 | ········· |
| Oh, fiddle dat chune some mo', I say, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| An' fiddle it loud an' fas': | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| I's a youngstah ergin in de mi'st o' my sin; | 12 | ············ |
| De p'esent 's gone back to de pas'. | 9 | ········· |
| I 'll dance to dat chune, so des fiddle erway; | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
| I knows how de backslidah feels; | 8 | ········ |
| So fiddle it on 'twell de break o' de day | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Fu' de sake o' my eachin' heels. | 8 | ········ |
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.