W'En I Gits Home
It's moughty tiahsome layin' 'roun'Dis sorrer-laden earfly groun',An' oftentimes I thinks, thinks I,'T would be a sweet t'ing des to die,An' go 'long home.
Home whaih de frien's I loved 'll say,"We've waited fu' you many a day,Come hyeah an' res' yo'se'f, an' knowYou's done wid sorrer an' wid woe,Now you's at home."
W'en I gits home some blessid day,I 'lows to th'ow my caihs erway,An' up an' down de shinin' street,Go singin' sof' an' low an' sweet,W'en I gits home.
I wish de day was neah at han',I's tiahed of dis grievin' lan',I's tiahed of de lonely yeahs,I want to des dry up my teahs,An' go 'long home.
Oh, Mastah, won't you sen' de call?My frien's is daih, my hope, my all.I 's waitin' whaih de road is rough,I want to hyeah you say, "Enough,Ol' man, come home!"
Words in this poem
- oftentimes adv.
- Frequently; often; many times. [Often + time. Cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
W'En I Gits Home 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, W'En I Gits Home, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/w-en-i-gits-home.html, id L00750.
Form and metre
W'En I Gits Home is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABB- rounA · grounA · iB · dieB · home
- 2 AABB- sayA · dayA · knowB · woeB · home
- 3 --AA- day · erway · streetA · sweetA · home
- 4 AA--- hanA · lanA · yeahs · teahs · home
- 5 AABB- callA · allA · roughB · enoughB · home
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It's moughty tiahsome layin' 'roun' | 7 | ······· |
| Dis sorrer-laden earfly groun', | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' oftentimes I thinks, thinks I, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'T would be a sweet t'ing des to die, | 9 | ········· |
| An' go 'long home. | 4 | ···· |
| Home whaih de frien's I loved 'll say, | 8 | ········ |
| "We've waited fu' you many a day, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Come hyeah an' res' yo'se'f, an' know | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| You's done wid sorrer an' wid woe, | 8 | ········ |
| Now you's at home." | 4 | ···· |
| W'en I gits home some blessid day, | 8 | ········ |
| I 'lows to th'ow my caihs erway, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| An' up an' down de shinin' street, | 8 | ········ |
| Go singin' sof' an' low an' sweet, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| W'en I gits home. | 4 | ···· |
| I wish de day was neah at han', | 8 | ········ |
| I's tiahed of dis grievin' lan', | 8 | ··˘····· |
| I's tiahed of de lonely yeahs, | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| I want to des dry up my teahs, | 8 | ········ |
| An' go 'long home. | 4 | ···· |
| Oh, Mastah, won't you sen' de call? | 8 | ········ |
| My frien's is daih, my hope, my all. | 8 | ········ |
| I 's waitin' whaih de road is rough, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| I want to hyeah you say, "Enough, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Ol' man, come home!" | 4 | ···· |
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.