One Life
Oh, I am hurt to death, my Love;The shafts of Fate have pierced my striving heart,And I am sick and weary ofThe endless pain and smart.My soul is weary of the strife,And chafes at life, and chafes at life.
Time mocks me with fair promises;A blooming future grows a barren past,Like rain my fair full-blossomed treesUnburden in the blast.The harvest fails on grain and tree,Nor comes to me, nor comes to me.
The stream that bears my hopes abreastTurns ever from my way its pregnant tide.My laden boat, torn from its rest,Drifts to the other side.So all my hopes are set astray,And drift away, and drift away.
The lark sings to me at the morn,And near me wings her skyward-soaring flight;But pleasure dies as soon as born,The owl takes up the night,And night seems long and doubly dark;I miss the lark, I miss the lark.
Let others labor as they may,I'll sing and sigh alone, and write my line.Their fate is theirs, or grave or gay,And mine shall still be mine.I know the world holds joy and glee,But not for me,--'t is not for me.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- unburden v. t.
- To relieve from a burden. [1st pref. un- + burden.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
One Life 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, One Life, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/one-life.html, id L00572.
Form and metre
One Life is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCC loveA · heartB · ofA · smartB · strifeC · lifeC
- 2 ABABCC promisesA · pastB · treesA · blastB · treeC · meC
- 3 ABABCC abreastA · tideB · restA · sideB · astrayC · awayC
- 4 ABABCC mornA · flightB · bornA · nightB · darkC · larkC
- 5 ABABCC mayA · lineB · gayA · mineB · gleeC · meC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, I am hurt to death, my Love; | 8 | ········ |
| The shafts of Fate have pierced my striving heart, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And I am sick and weary of | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The endless pain and smart. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My soul is weary of the strife, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And chafes at life, and chafes at life. | 8 | ········ |
| Time mocks me with fair promises; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| A blooming future grows a barren past, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Like rain my fair full-blossomed trees | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unburden in the blast. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| The harvest fails on grain and tree, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor comes to me, nor comes to me. | 8 | ········ |
| The stream that bears my hopes abreast | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Turns ever from my way its pregnant tide. | 9 | ·/····/˘· |
| My laden boat, torn from its rest, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Drifts to the other side. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| So all my hopes are set astray, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And drift away, and drift away. | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| The lark sings to me at the morn, | 8 | ········ |
| And near me wings her skyward-soaring flight; | 9 | ·····//˘· |
| But pleasure dies as soon as born, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The owl takes up the night, | 6 | ······ |
| And night seems long and doubly dark; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I miss the lark, I miss the lark. | 8 | ········ |
| Let others labor as they may, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I'll sing and sigh alone, and write my line. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Their fate is theirs, or grave or gay, | 8 | ········ |
| And mine shall still be mine. | 6 | ······ |
| I know the world holds joy and glee, | 8 | ········ |
| But not for me,--'t is not for me. | 9 | ········· |
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.