Possession
Whose little lady is you, chile,Whose little gal is you?What's de use o' kiver'n up yo' face?Chile, dat ain't de way to do.Lemme see yo' little eyes,Tek yo' little han's down nice,Lawd, you wuff a million bills,Huh uh, chile, dat ain't yo' price.
Honey, de money ain't been madeDat dey could pay fu' you;'T ain't no use a-biddin'; you too highFu' de riches' Jap er Jew.Lemme see you smilin' now,How dem teef o' yo'n do shine,An' de t'ing dat meks me laffIs dat all o' you is mine.
How 's I gwine to tell you how I feel,How's I gwine to weigh yo' wuff?Oh, you sholy is de sweetes' t'ingWalkin' on dis blessed earf.Possum is de sweetes' meat,Cidah is the nices' drink,But my little lady-birdIs de bes' of all, I t'ink.
Talk erbout 'uligion he'pin' folksAll thoo de way o' life,Gin de res' 'uligion, des' gin meYou, my little lady-wife.Den de days kin come all ha'd,Den de nights kin come all black,Des' you tek me by de han',An' I'll stumble on de track.
Stumble on de way to Gawd, my chile,Stumble on, an' mebbe fall;But I'll keep a-trottin', while you lead on,Pickin' an' a-trottin', dat's all.Hol' me mighty tight, dough, chile,Fu' hit's rough an' rocky lan',Heaben 's at de en', I know,So I's leanin' on yo' han'.
Words in this poem
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Possession 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, Possession, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/possession.html, id L00754.
Form and metre
Possession is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% 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 -A-A-B-B chile · youA · face · doA · eyes · niceB · bills · priceB
- 2 -A-A-B-B made · youA · high · jewA · now · shineB · laff · mineB
- 3 -----A-A feel · wuff · t'ing · earf · meat · drinkA · bird · t'inkA
- 4 -A-A-B-B folks · lifeA · me · wifeA · ha'd · blackB · han · trackB
- 5 ABCBA--C chileA · fallB · onC · allB · chileA · lan · know · hanC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whose little lady is you, chile, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Whose little gal is you? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What's de use o' kiver'n up yo' face? | 9 | ········· |
| Chile, dat ain't de way to do. | 8 | /˘······ |
| Lemme see yo' little eyes, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Tek yo' little han's down nice, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lawd, you wuff a million bills, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Huh uh, chile, dat ain't yo' price. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Honey, de money ain't been made | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Dat dey could pay fu' you; | 6 | ······ |
| 'T ain't no use a-biddin'; you too high | 10 | ·········· |
| Fu' de riches' Jap er Jew. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lemme see you smilin' now, | 7 | /˘····· |
| How dem teef o' yo'n do shine, | 7 | ······· |
| An' de t'ing dat meks me laff | 7 | ······· |
| Is dat all o' you is mine. | 7 | ······· |
| How 's I gwine to tell you how I feel, | 10 | ·········· |
| How's I gwine to weigh yo' wuff? | 7 | ······· |
| Oh, you sholy is de sweetes' t'ing | 8 | ········ |
| Walkin' on dis blessed earf. | 7 | /˘···˘· |
| Possum is de sweetes' meat, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Cidah is the nices' drink, | 7 | ······· |
| But my little lady-bird | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Is de bes' of all, I t'ink. | 7 | ······· |
| Talk erbout 'uligion he'pin' folks | 9 | ········· |
| All thoo de way o' life, | 6 | ······ |
| Gin de res' 'uligion, des' gin me | 9 | ········· |
| You, my little lady-wife. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Den de days kin come all ha'd, | 7 | ······· |
| Den de nights kin come all black, | 7 | ······· |
| Des' you tek me by de han', | 7 | ······· |
| An' I'll stumble on de track. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Stumble on de way to Gawd, my chile, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Stumble on, an' mebbe fall; | 6 | /˘···· |
| But I'll keep a-trottin', while you lead on, | 10 | ·········· |
| Pickin' an' a-trottin', dat's all. | 8 | ········ |
| Hol' me mighty tight, dough, chile, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Fu' hit's rough an' rocky lan', | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Heaben 's at de en', I know, | 8 | ········ |
| So I's leanin' on yo' han'. | 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.