Baptism
Into the furnace let me go alone;Stay you without in terror of the heat.I will go naked in--for thus ’tis sweet--Into the weird depths of the hottest zone.I will not quiver in the frailest bone,You will not note a flicker of defeat;My heart shall tremble not its fate to meet,My mouth give utterance to any moan.The yawning oven spits forth fiery spears;Red aspish tongues shout wordlessly my name.Desire destroys, consumes my mortal fears,Transforming me into a shape of flame.I will come out, back to your world of tears,A stronger soul within a finer frame.
Words in this poem
- flicker v. i.
- To flutter; to flap the wings without flying. [OE. flikeren, flekeren, to flutter, AS. flicerian, flicorian, cf. D. flikkeren to sparkle. Flacker.]
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- aspish a.
- Pertaining to, or like, an asp.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Baptism 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, Baptism, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/baptism.html, id L01378.
Form and metre
Baptism is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDCDCD aloneA · heatB · sweetB · zoneA · boneA · defeatB · meetB · moanA · spearsC · nameD · fearsC · flameD · tearsC · frameD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Into the furnace let me go alone; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Stay you without in terror of the heat. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I will go naked in--for thus ’tis sweet-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Into the weird depths of the hottest zone. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I will not quiver in the frailest bone, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| You will not note a flicker of defeat; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| My heart shall tremble not its fate to meet, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My mouth give utterance to any moan. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| The yawning oven spits forth fiery spears; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Red aspish tongues shout wordlessly my name. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Desire destroys, consumes my mortal fears, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘/·/˘· |
| Transforming me into a shape of flame. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| I will come out, back to your world of tears, | 10 | ·········· |
| A stronger soul within a finer frame. | 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.