Adolescence
There was a time when in late afternoonThe four-o’clocks would fold up at day’s closePink-white in prayer, and ’neath the floating moonI lay with them in calm and sweet repose.
And in the open spaces I could sleep,Half-naked to the shining worlds above;Peace came with sleep and sleep was long and deep,Gained without effort, sweet like early love.
But now no balm--nor drug nor weed nor wine--Can bring true rest to cool my body’s fever,Nor sweeten in my mouth the acid brine,That salts my choicest drink and will forever.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Adolescence is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, Adolescence, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/adolescence.html, id L01343.
Form and metre
Adolescence is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ABAB afternoonA · closeB · moonA · reposeB
- 2 ABAB sleepA · aboveB · deepA · loveB
- 3 A-A- wineA · fever · brineA · forever
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There was a time when in late afternoon | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The four-o’clocks would fold up at day’s close | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Pink-white in prayer, and ’neath the floating moon | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I lay with them in calm and sweet repose. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And in the open spaces I could sleep, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Half-naked to the shining worlds above; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Peace came with sleep and sleep was long and deep, | 10 | ·········· |
| Gained without effort, sweet like early love. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But now no balm--nor drug nor weed nor wine-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Can bring true rest to cool my body’s fever, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Nor sweeten in my mouth the acid brine, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| That salts my choicest drink and will forever. | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
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.