The Turning of the Babies in the Bed
Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat.She's a mess o' funny capahs f'om huh slippahs to huh hat.Ef you tries to un'erstan' huh, an' you fails, des' up an' say:"D' ain't a bit o' use to try to un'erstan' a woman's way."
I don' mean to be complainin', but I 's jes' a-settin' downSome o' my own obserwations, w'en I cas' my eye eroun'.Ef you ax me fu' to prove it, I ken do it mighty fine,Fu' dey ain't no bettah 'zample den dis ve'y wife o' mine.
In de ve'y hea't o' midnight, w'en I 's sleepin' good an' soun',I kin hyeah a so't o' rustlin' an' somebody movin' 'roun'.An' I say, "Lize, whut you doin'?" But she frown an' shek huh haid,"Heish yo' mouf, I's only tu'nin' of de chillun in de bed.
"Don' you know a chile gits restless, layin' all de night one way?An' you' got to kind o' 'range him sev'al times befo' de day?So de little necks won't worry, an' de little backs won't break;Don' you t'ink case chillun 's chillun dey hain't got no pain an' ache."
So she shakes 'em, an' she twists 'em, an' she tu'ns 'em 'roun' erbout,'Twell I don' see how de chillun evah keeps f'om hollahin' out.Den she lif's 'em up head down'ards, so's dey won't git livahgrown,But dey snoozes des' ez peaceful ez a liza'd on a stone.
W'en hit's mos' nigh time fu' wakin' on de dawn o' jedgment day,Seems lak I kin hyeah ol' Gab'iel lay his trumpet down an' say,"Who dat walkin' 'roun' so easy, down on earf ermong de dead?"--'T will be Lizy up a-tu'nin' of de chillun in de bed.
Words in this poem
- funny a.
- Droll; comical; amusing; laughable. Funny bone. See crazy bone, under Crazy. [From Fun.]
- somebody n.
- A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person.
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Turning of the Babies in the Bed 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 Turning of the Babies in the Bed, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-turning-of-the-babies-in-the-bed.html, id L00712.
Form and metre
The Turning of the Babies in the Bed is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.1 syllables.
See other poems in trochaic octameter.
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 AABB datA · hatA · sayB · wayB
- 2 --AA down · eroun · fineA · mineA
- 3 AA-- sounA · rounA · haid · bed
- 4 AABB wayA · dayA · breakB · acheB
- 5 AABB erboutA · outA · livahgrownB · stoneB
- 6 AABB dayA · sayA · deadB · bedB
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Woman's sho' a cur'ous critter, an' dey ain't no doubtin' dat. | 15 | /˘····/˘······· |
| She's a mess o' funny capahs f'om huh slippahs to huh hat. | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| Ef you tries to un'erstan' huh, an' you fails, des' up an' say: | 15 | ··············· |
| "D' ain't a bit o' use to try to un'erstan' a woman's way." | 16 | ·············/˘· |
| I don' mean to be complainin', but I 's jes' a-settin' down | 16 | ················ |
| Some o' my own obserwations, w'en I cas' my eye eroun'. | 15 | ··············· |
| Ef you ax me fu' to prove it, I ken do it mighty fine, | 15 | ············/˘· |
| Fu' dey ain't no bettah 'zample den dis ve'y wife o' mine. | 14 | ·············· |
| In de ve'y hea't o' midnight, w'en I 's sleepin' good an' soun', | 15 | ·····/········· |
| I kin hyeah a so't o' rustlin' an' somebody movin' 'roun'. | 15 | ·········/˘˘··· |
| An' I say, "Lize, whut you doin'?" But she frown an' shek huh haid, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| "Heish yo' mouf, I's only tu'nin' of de chillun in de bed. | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| "Don' you know a chile gits restless, layin' all de night one way? | 15 | ····/˘·/˘······ |
| An' you' got to kind o' 'range him sev'al times befo' de day? | 15 | ··············· |
| So de little necks won't worry, an' de little backs won't break; | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| Don' you t'ink case chillun 's chillun dey hain't got no pain an' ache." | 16 | ················ |
| So she shakes 'em, an' she twists 'em, an' she tu'ns 'em 'roun' erbout, | 15 | ··············· |
| 'Twell I don' see how de chillun evah keeps f'om hollahin' out. | 16 | ················ |
| Den she lif's 'em up head down'ards, so's dey won't git livahgrown, | 14 | ······/······· |
| But dey snoozes des' ez peaceful ez a liza'd on a stone. | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
| W'en hit's mos' nigh time fu' wakin' on de dawn o' jedgment day, | 15 | ··············· |
| Seems lak I kin hyeah ol' Gab'iel lay his trumpet down an' say, | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| "Who dat walkin' 'roun' so easy, down on earf ermong de dead?"-- | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
| 'T will be Lizy up a-tu'nin' of de chillun in de bed. | 16 | ················ |
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.