December, 1919
Last night I heard your voice, mother,The words you sang to meWhen I, a little barefoot boy,Knelt down against your knee.
And tears gushed from my heart, mother,And passed beyond its wall,But though the fountain reached my throatThe drops refused to fall.
’Tis ten years since you died, mother,Just ten dark years of pain,And oh, I only wish that ICould weep just once again.
Words in this poem
- barefoot a.
- With the feet bare; without shoes or stockings.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
December, 1919 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, December, 1919, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/december-1919.html, id L01357.
Form and metre
December, 1919 is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 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 common measure.
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 -A-A mother · meA · boy · kneeA
- 2 -A-A mother · wallA · throat · fallA
- 3 -A-A mother · painA · i · againA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Last night I heard your voice, mother, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The words you sang to me | 6 | ······ |
| When I, a little barefoot boy, | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Knelt down against your knee. | 6 | ······ |
| And tears gushed from my heart, mother, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And passed beyond its wall, | 6 | ······ |
| But though the fountain reached my throat | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The drops refused to fall. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| ’Tis ten years since you died, mother, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Just ten dark years of pain, | 6 | ······ |
| And oh, I only wish that I | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Could weep just once again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
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.