Courage
O lonely heart so timid of approach,Like the shy tropic flower that shuts its lipsTo the faint touch of tender finger tips:What is your word? What question would you broach?
Your lustrous-warm eyes are too sadly kindTo mask the meaning of your dreamy tale,Your guarded life too exquisitely frailAgainst the daggers of my warring mind.
There is no part of the unyielding earth,Even bare rocks where the eagles build their nest,Will give us undisturbed and friendly rest.No dewfall softens this vast belt of dearth.
But in the socket-chiseled teeth of strife,That gleam in serried files in all the lands,We may join hungry, understanding hands,And drink our share of ardent love and life.
Words in this poem
- broach v. t.
- To spit; to pierce as with a spit. [F. brocher, fr. broche. See Broach, n.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- exquisitely adv.
- In an exquisite manner or degree; as, lace exquisitely wrought.
- dewfall n.
- The falling of dew; the time when dew begins to fall.
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- serried a.
- Crowded; compact; dense; pressed together. [See Serry.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Courage 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, Courage, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/courage.html, id L01391.
Form and metre
Courage is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 19% 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 ABBA approachA · lipsB · tipsB · broachA
- 2 ABBA kindA · taleB · frailB · mindA
- 3 ABBA earthA · nestB · restB · dearthA
- 4 ABBA strifeA · landsB · handsB · lifeA
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 lonely heart so timid of approach, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Like the shy tropic flower that shuts its lips | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| To the faint touch of tender finger tips: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| What is your word? What question would you broach? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Your lustrous-warm eyes are too sadly kind | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| To mask the meaning of your dreamy tale, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Your guarded life too exquisitely frail | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| Against the daggers of my warring mind. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| There is no part of the unyielding earth, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Even bare rocks where the eagles build their nest, | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| Will give us undisturbed and friendly rest. | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| No dewfall softens this vast belt of dearth. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| But in the socket-chiseled teeth of strife, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That gleam in serried files in all the lands, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| We may join hungry, understanding hands, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And drink our share of ardent love and life. | 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.