Protest
Who say my hea't ain't true to you?Dey bettah heish dey mouf.I knows I loves you thoo an' thooIn watah time er drouf.I wush dese people 'd stop dey talkin',Don't mean no mo' dan chicken's squawkin':I guess I knows which way I's walkin',I knows de norf f'om souf.
I does not love Elizy Brown,I guess I knows my min'.You allus try to tek me downWid evaht'ing you fin'.Ef dese hyeah folks will keep on fillin'Yo' haid wid nonsense, an' you's willin'I bet some day dey 'll be a killin'Somewhaih along de line.
O' cose I buys de gal ice-cream,Whut else I gwine to do?I knows jes' how de t'ing 'u'd seemEf I 'd be sho't wid you.On Sunday, you's at chu'ch a-shoutin',Den all de week you go 'roun' poutin'--I's mighty tiahed o' all dis doubtin',I tell you cause I's true.
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
Protest 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, Protest, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/protest.html, id L00670.
Form and metre
Protest is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABAB-CCB youA · moufB · thooA · droufB · talkin · squawkinC · walkinC · soufB
- 2 ABABCCCC brownA · minB · downA · finB · fillinC · willinC · killinC · lineC
- 3 ABABCCCB creamA · doB · seemA · youB · shoutinC · poutinC · doubtinC · trueB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Who say my hea't ain't true to you? | 8 | ········ |
| Dey bettah heish dey mouf. | 6 | ······ |
| I knows I loves you thoo an' thoo | 8 | ········ |
| In watah time er drouf. | 6 | ······ |
| I wush dese people 'd stop dey talkin', | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Don't mean no mo' dan chicken's squawkin': | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| I guess I knows which way I's walkin', | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I knows de norf f'om souf. | 6 | ······ |
| I does not love Elizy Brown, | 8 | ········ |
| I guess I knows my min'. | 6 | ······ |
| You allus try to tek me down | 8 | ········ |
| Wid evaht'ing you fin'. | 6 | ······ |
| Ef dese hyeah folks will keep on fillin' | 9 | ········· |
| Yo' haid wid nonsense, an' you's willin' | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| I bet some day dey 'll be a killin' | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Somewhaih along de line. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| O' cose I buys de gal ice-cream, | 8 | ········ |
| Whut else I gwine to do? | 6 | ······ |
| I knows jes' how de t'ing 'u'd seem | 8 | ········ |
| Ef I 'd be sho't wid you. | 7 | ······· |
| On Sunday, you's at chu'ch a-shoutin', | 9 | ·/······· |
| Den all de week you go 'roun' poutin'-- | 9 | ········· |
| I's mighty tiahed o' all dis doubtin', | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| I tell you cause I's true. | 6 | ······ |
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.