De Little Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep
Cuddle down, ma honey, in yo' bed,Go to sleep an' res' yo' little head,Been a-kind o' ailin' all de day?Didn't have no sperit fu' to play?Never min'; to-morrer, w'en you wek,Daddy's gwine to ride you on his bek,'Roun' an' roun' de cabin flo' so fas'--Der! He's closed his little eyes at las'.
De little pickaninny's gone to sleep,Cuddled in his trundle bed so tiny,De little pickaninny's gone to sleep,Closed his little eyes so bright an' shiny.Hush! an' w'en you walk across de flo'Step across it very sof' an' slow.De shadders all aroun' begin to creep,De little pickaninny's gone to sleep.
Mandy, w'at's de matter wid dat chile?Keeps a-sighin' ev'y little w'ile;Seems to me I heayhd him sorter groan,Lord! his little han's am col' as stone!W'at's dat far-off light dat's in his eyes?Dat's a light dey's borrow'd f'om de skies;Fol' his little han's across his breas',Let de little pickaninny res'.
Words in this poem
- cuddle v. i.
- To She cuddles low beneath the brake; Nor would she stay, nor dares she fly. Prior. [Prob. for couthle, fr. couth known; cf. OE. kuppen to cuddle, or cu to make friends with. SeeCouth, Uncouth, Can.]
- shiny a.
- Bright; luminous; clear; unclouded.
- sorter n.
- One who, or that which, sorts.
- pickaninny n.
- A small child; especially, a negro or mulatto infant. [U.S. & West Indies] [Cf. Sp. pequeño little, young.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
De Little Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, De Little Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/de-little-pickaninny-s-gone-to-sleep.html, id L08348.
Form and metre
De Little Pickaninny's Gone to Sleep is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 58% of the lines. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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 AABBCC-- bedA · headA · dayB · playB · wekC · bekC · fas · las
- 2 ABABCCAA sleepA · tinyB · sleepA · shinyB · floC · slowC · creepA · sleepA
- 3 --AABB-- chile · w'ile · groanA · stoneA · eyesB · skiesB · breas · res
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Cuddle down, ma honey, in yo' bed, | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| Go to sleep an' res' yo' little head, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Been a-kind o' ailin' all de day? | 9 | ········· |
| Didn't have no sperit fu' to play? | 9 | /˘······· |
| Never min'; to-morrer, w'en you wek, | 8 | /······· |
| Daddy's gwine to ride you on his bek, | 9 | /˘······· |
| 'Roun' an' roun' de cabin flo' so fas'-- | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Der! He's closed his little eyes at las'. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| De little pickaninny's gone to sleep, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Cuddled in his trundle bed so tiny, | 10 | /˘··/˘··/˘ |
| De little pickaninny's gone to sleep, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Closed his little eyes so bright an' shiny. | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Hush! an' w'en you walk across de flo' | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Step across it very sof' an' slow. | 9 | ·˘/·/˘··· |
| De shadders all aroun' begin to creep, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| De little pickaninny's gone to sleep. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Mandy, w'at's de matter wid dat chile? | 10 | /˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Keeps a-sighin' ev'y little w'ile; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Seems to me I heayhd him sorter groan, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Lord! his little han's am col' as stone! | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| W'at's dat far-off light dat's in his eyes? | 9 | ········· |
| Dat's a light dey's borrow'd f'om de skies; | 9 | ····/···· |
| Fol' his little han's across his breas', | 9 | ··/˘·˘/·· |
| Let de little pickaninny res'. | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
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.