The Paradox
I am the mother of sorrows,I am the ender of grief;I am the bud and the blossom,I am the late-falling leaf.
I am thy priest and thy poet,I am thy serf and thy king;I cure the tears of the heartsick,When I come near they shall sing.
White are my hands as the snowdrop;Swart are my fingers as clay;Dark is my frown as the midnight,Fair is my brow as the day.
Battle and war are my minions,Doing my will as divine;I am the calmer of passions,Peace is a nursling of mine.
Speak to me gently or curse me,Seek me or fly from my sight;I am thy fool in the morning,Thou art my slave in the night.
Down to the grave will I take thee,Out from the noise of the strife;Then shalt thou see me and know me--Death, then, no longer, but life.
Then shalt thou sing at my coming.Kiss me with passionate breath,Clasp me and smile to have thought meAught save the foeman of Death.
Come to me, brother, when weary,Come when thy lonely heart swells;I 'll guide thy footsteps and lead theeDown where the Dream Woman dwells.
Words in this poem
- ender n.
- One who, or that which, makes an end of something; as, the ender of my life.
- heartsick a.
- Sick at heart; extremely depressed in spirits; very despondent. [AS. heoriseóc.]
- 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,]
- calmer n.
- One who, or that which, makes calm.
- nursling n.
- One who, or that which, is nursed; an infant; a fondling. [Nurse + -ling.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- foeman n.
- An enemy in war. [AS. fhman.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Paradox 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 Paradox, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-paradox.html, id L00589.
Form and metre
The Paradox is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is dactylic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic trimeter.
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 sorrows · griefA · blossom · leafA
- 2 -A-A poet · kingA · heartsick · singA
- 3 -A-A snowdrop · clayA · midnight · dayA
- 4 -A-A minions · divineA · passions · mineA
- 5 -A-A me · sightA · morning · nightA
- 6 ABAB theeA · strifeB · meA · lifeB
- 7 -A-A coming · breathA · me · deathA
- 8 -A-A weary · swellsA · thee · dwellsA
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 dactylic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am the mother of sorrows, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| I am the ender of grief; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I am the bud and the blossom, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I am the late-falling leaf. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I am thy priest and thy poet, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I am thy serf and thy king; | 7 | ······· |
| I cure the tears of the heartsick, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When I come near they shall sing. | 7 | ······· |
| White are my hands as the snowdrop; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Swart are my fingers as clay; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Dark is my frown as the midnight, | 8 | ······/· |
| Fair is my brow as the day. | 7 | ······· |
| Battle and war are my minions, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Doing my will as divine; | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| I am the calmer of passions, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Peace is a nursling of mine. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Speak to me gently or curse me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Seek me or fly from my sight; | 7 | ······· |
| I am thy fool in the morning, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thou art my slave in the night. | 7 | ······· |
| Down to the grave will I take thee, | 8 | ········ |
| Out from the noise of the strife; | 7 | ······· |
| Then shalt thou see me and know me-- | 8 | ········ |
| Death, then, no longer, but life. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Then shalt thou sing at my coming. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Kiss me with passionate breath, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Clasp me and smile to have thought me | 8 | ········ |
| Aught save the foeman of Death. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Come to me, brother, when weary, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Come when thy lonely heart swells; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| I 'll guide thy footsteps and lead thee | 9 | ····/···· |
| Down where the Dream Woman dwells. | 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.