The Gourd
In the heavy earth the minerToiled and laboured day by day,Wrenching from the miser mountainBrilliant treasure where it lay.And the artist worn and wearyWrought with labour manifoldThat the king might drink his nectarFrom a goblet made of gold.
On the prince's groaning tableMid the silver gleaming brightMirroring the happy facesGiving back the flaming light,Shine the cups of priceless crystalChased with many a lovely line,Glowing now with warmer colour,Crimsoned by the ruby wine.
In a valley sweet with sunlight,Fertile with the dew and rain,Without miner's daily labour,Without artist's nightly pain,There there grows the cup I drink from,Summer's sweetness in it stored,And my lips pronounce a blessingAs they touch an old brown gourd.
Why, the miracle at CanaIn the land of Galilee,Tho' it puzzles all the scholars,Is no longer strange to me.For the poorest and the humblestCould a priceless wine afford,If they 'd only dip up waterWith a sunlight-seasoned gourd.
So a health to my old comrade,And a song of praise to singWhen he rests inviting kissesIn his place beside the spring.Give the king his golden goblets,Give the prince his crystal hoard;But for me the sparkling waterFrom a brown and brimming gourd!
Words in this poem
- miner n.
- One who mines; a digger for metals, etc.; one engaged in the business of getting ore, coal, or precious stones, out of the earth; one who digs military mines; as, armies have sappers and miners. [Cf. F. mineur.]
- laboured a.
- Bearing marks of labor and effort; elaborately wrought; not easy or natural; as, labored poetry; a labored style.
- artist n.
- One who practices some mechanic art or craft; an artisan. [F. artiste, LL. artista, fr. L. ars. See Art, n., and cf. Artiste.]
- priceless a.
- Too valuable to admit of being appraised; of inestimable worth; invaluable.
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- inviting a.
- Alluring; tempting; as, an inviting amusement or prospect.
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gourd 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 Gourd, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-gourd.html, id L00628.
Form and metre
The Gourd is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 17 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% 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 miner · dayA · mountain · layA · weary · manifoldB · nectar · goldB
- 2 -A-A-B-B table · brightA · faces · lightA · crystal · lineB · colour · wineB
- 3 -A-A-B-B sunlight · rainA · labour · painA · from · storedB · blessing · gourdB
- 4 -A-A-B-B cana · galileeA · scholars · meA · humblest · affordB · water · gourdB
- 5 -A-A-B-B comrade · singA · kisses · springA · goblets · hoardB · water · gourdB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the heavy earth the miner | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Toiled and laboured day by day, | 8 | ·˘·/˘··· |
| Wrenching from the miser mountain | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Brilliant treasure where it lay. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And the artist worn and weary | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Wrought with labour manifold | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| That the king might drink his nectar | 8 | ······/˘ |
| From a goblet made of gold. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On the prince's groaning table | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Mid the silver gleaming bright | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Mirroring the happy faces | 8 | /˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| Giving back the flaming light, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Shine the cups of priceless crystal | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Chased with many a lovely line, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Glowing now with warmer colour, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Crimsoned by the ruby wine. | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| In a valley sweet with sunlight, | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Fertile with the dew and rain, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Without miner's daily labour, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/· |
| Without artist's nightly pain, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| There there grows the cup I drink from, | 8 | ········ |
| Summer's sweetness in it stored, | 8 | /˘/˘···˘ |
| And my lips pronounce a blessing | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| As they touch an old brown gourd. | 7 | ······· |
| Why, the miracle at Cana | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| In the land of Galilee, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Tho' it puzzles all the scholars, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Is no longer strange to me. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For the poorest and the humblest | 9 | ··/˘··/˘˘ |
| Could a priceless wine afford, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| If they 'd only dip up water | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| With a sunlight-seasoned gourd. | 8 | ··/·/˘˘· |
| So a health to my old comrade, | 8 | ······/· |
| And a song of praise to sing | 7 | ······· |
| When he rests inviting kisses | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| In his place beside the spring. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Give the king his golden goblets, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Give the prince his crystal hoard; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But for me the sparkling water | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| From a brown and brimming gourd! | 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.