The Black Mammy
O whitened head entwined in turban gay,O kind black face, O crude, but tender hand,O foster-mother in whose arms there layThe race whose sons are masters of the land!It was thine arms that sheltered in their fold,It was thine eyes that followed through the lengthOf infant days these sons. In times of oldIt was thy breast that nourished them to strength.
So often hast thou to thy bosom pressedThe golden head, the face and brow of snow;So often has it 'gainst thy broad, dark breastLain, set off like a quickened cameo.Thou simple soul, as cuddling down that babeWith thy sweet croon, so plaintive and so wild,Came ne'er the thought to thee, swift like a stab,That it some day might crush thine own black child?
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Black Mammy 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, The Black Mammy, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/the-black-mammy.html, id L08292.
Form and metre
The Black Mammy is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABABCDCD gayA · handB · layA · landB · foldC · lengthD · oldC · strengthD
- 2 ABAB-C-C pressedA · snowB · breastA · cameoB · babe · wildC · stab · childC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O whitened head entwined in turban gay, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| O kind black face, O crude, but tender hand, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O foster-mother in whose arms there lay | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The race whose sons are masters of the land! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It was thine arms that sheltered in their fold, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It was thine eyes that followed through the length | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of infant days these sons. In times of old | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| It was thy breast that nourished them to strength. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So often hast thou to thy bosom pressed | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The golden head, the face and brow of snow; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| So often has it 'gainst thy broad, dark breast | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lain, set off like a quickened cameo. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Thou simple soul, as cuddling down that babe | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With thy sweet croon, so plaintive and so wild, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Came ne'er the thought to thee, swift like a stab, | 10 | ·········· |
| That it some day might crush thine own black child? | 10 | ·········· |
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.