My Corn-Cob Pipe
Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the starsThe real or fancied virtues of their foreign-made cigars;But I worship Nicotina at a different sort of shrine,And she sits enthroned in glory in this corn-cob pipe of mine.
It 's as fragrant as the meadows when the clover is in bloom;It 's as dainty as the essence of the daintiest perfume;It 's as sweet as are the orchards when the fruit is hanging ripe,With the sun's warm kiss upon them--is this corn-cob pipe.
Thro' the smoke about it clinging, I delight its form to trace,Like an oriental beauty with a veil upon her face;And my room is dim with vapour as a church when censers sway,As I clasp it to my bosom--in a figurative way.
It consoles me in misfortune and it cheers me in distress,And it proves a warm partaker of my pleasures in success;So I hail it as a symbol, friendship's true and worthy type,And I press my lips devoutly to my corn-cob pipe.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- devoutly adv.
- In a devout and reverent manner; with devout emotions; piously.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Corn-Cob Pipe 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, My Corn-Cob Pipe, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/my-corn-cob-pipe.html, id L00665.
Form and metre
My Corn-Cob Pipe is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.7 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic octameter.
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 AABB starsA · cigarsA · shrineB · mineB
- 2 AABB bloomA · perfumeA · ripeB · pipeB
- 3 AABB traceA · faceA · swayB · wayB
- 4 AABB distressA · successA · typeB · pipeB
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Men may sing of their Havanas, elevating to the stars | 15 | ·····˘/˘/˘·˘··· |
| The real or fancied virtues of their foreign-made cigars; | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| But I worship Nicotina at a different sort of shrine, | 15 | ··/˘······/˘··· |
| And she sits enthroned in glory in this corn-cob pipe of mine. | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| It 's as fragrant as the meadows when the clover is in bloom; | 16 | ···/˘··/···/˘··· |
| It 's as dainty as the essence of the daintiest perfume; | 15 | ···/˘··/˘····˘/ |
| It 's as sweet as are the orchards when the fruit is hanging ripe, | 16 | ·······/˘····/˘· |
| With the sun's warm kiss upon them--is this corn-cob pipe. | 13 | ············· |
| Thro' the smoke about it clinging, I delight its form to trace, | 15 | ······/˘·˘/···· |
| Like an oriental beauty with a veil upon her face; | 15 | ···˘/˘/˘······· |
| And my room is dim with vapour as a church when censers sway, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| As I clasp it to my bosom--in a figurative way. | 15 | ······/˘··/˘˘˘· |
| It consoles me in misfortune and it cheers me in distress, | 15 | ·˘/··˘/˘·····˘/ |
| And it proves a warm partaker of my pleasures in success; | 15 | ·····˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| So I hail it as a symbol, friendship's true and worthy type, | 15 | ······/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And I press my lips devoutly to my corn-cob pipe. | 13 | ·····˘/˘····· |
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.