Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did
Slow de night 's a-fallin',An' I hyeah de callin,Out erpon de lonesome hill;Soun' is moughty dreary,Solemn-lak an' skeery,Sayin' fu' to "whip po' Will."
Now hit 's moughty tryin',Fu' to hyeah dis cryin','Deed hit 's mo' den I kin stan';Sho' wid all our slippin',Dey 's enough of whippin''Dout a bird a'visin' any man.
In de noons o' summahDey 's anothah hummahSings anothah song instid;An' his th'oat 's a-swellin'Wid de joy o' tellin',But he says dat "Katy did."
Now I feels onsuhtain;Won't you raise de cu'tainOvah all de ti'ngs dat 's hid?W'y dat feathahed p'isenGoes erbout a-visin'Whippin' Will w'en Katy did?
Words in this poem
- lonesome a.
- Secluded from society; not frequented by human beings; solitary.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did 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, Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/whip-poor-will-and-katy-did.html, id L00736.
Form and metre
Whip-Poor-Will and Katy-Did is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 AABCCB fallinA · callinA · hillB · drearyC · skeeryC · willB
- 2 AABCCB tryinA · cryinA · stanB · slippinC · whippinC · manB
- 3 AA-BB- summahA · hummahA · instid · swellinB · tellinB · did
- 4 AABCCB onsuhtainA · cu'tainA · hidB · p'isenC · visinC · didB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Slow de night 's a-fallin', | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| An' I hyeah de callin, | 6 | ······ |
| Out erpon de lonesome hill; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Soun' is moughty dreary, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Solemn-lak an' skeery, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Sayin' fu' to "whip po' Will." | 7 | /˘····· |
| Now hit 's moughty tryin', | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Fu' to hyeah dis cryin', | 5 | ····· |
| 'Deed hit 's mo' den I kin stan'; | 8 | ········ |
| Sho' wid all our slippin', | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Dey 's enough of whippin' | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| 'Dout a bird a'visin' any man. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| In de noons o' summah | 6 | ······ |
| Dey 's anothah hummah | 7 | ······· |
| Sings anothah song instid; | 7 | ······· |
| An' his th'oat 's a-swellin' | 7 | ······· |
| Wid de joy o' tellin', | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But he says dat "Katy did." | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Now I feels onsuhtain; | 6 | ······ |
| Won't you raise de cu'tain | 6 | ······ |
| Ovah all de ti'ngs dat 's hid? | 8 | ········ |
| W'y dat feathahed p'isen | 7 | ····˘·· |
| Goes erbout a-visin' | 6 | ······ |
| Whippin' Will w'en Katy did? | 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.