The Change
Love used to carry a bow, you know,But now he carries a taper;It is either a length of wax aglow,Or a twist of lighted paper.
I pondered a little about the scamp,And then I decided to followHis wandering journey to field and camp,Up hill, down dale or hollow.
I dogged the rollicking, gay, young bladeIn every species of weather;Till, leading me straight to the home of a maidHe left us there together.
And then I saw it, oh, sweet surprise,The taper it set a-burningThe love-light brimming my lady's eyes,And my heart with the fire of yearning.
Words in this poem
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
- scamp n.
- A rascal; a swindler; a rogue. De Quincey. [OF. escamper to run away, to make one's escape. originally, one who runs away, a fugitive, a vagabond. See Scamper.]
- dogged a.
- Sullen; morose. [Fron. Dog.]
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Change 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, The Change, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-change.html, id L00852.
Form and metre
The Change is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 knowA · taperB · aglowA · paperB
- 2 ABAB scampA · followB · campA · hollowB
- 3 ABAB bladeA · weatherB · maidA · togetherB
- 4 ABAB surpriseA · burningB · eyesA · yearningB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Love used to carry a bow, you know, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| But now he carries a taper; | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| It is either a length of wax aglow, | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| Or a twist of lighted paper. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| I pondered a little about the scamp, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| And then I decided to follow | 9 | ···˘/˘·/˘ |
| His wandering journey to field and camp, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Up hill, down dale or hollow. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I dogged the rollicking, gay, young blade | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In every species of weather; | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Till, leading me straight to the home of a maid | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| He left us there together. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And then I saw it, oh, sweet surprise, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| The taper it set a-burning | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| The love-light brimming my lady's eyes, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| And my heart with the fire of yearning. | 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.