French Leave
No servile little fear shall daunt my willThis morning. I have courage steeled to sayI will be lazy, conqueringly still,I will not lose the hours in toil this day.
The roaring world without, careless of souls,Shall leave me to my placid dream of rest,My four walls shield me from its shouting ghouls,And all its hates have fled my quiet breast.
And I will loll here resting, wide awake,Dead to the world of work, the world of love,I laze contented just for dreaming’s sakeWith not the slightest urge to think or move.
How tired unto death, how tired I was!Now for a day I put my burdens by,And like a child amidst the meadow grassUnder the southern sun, I languid lie
And feel the bed about me kindly deep,My strength ooze gently from my hollow bones,My worried brain drift aimlessly to sleep,Like softening to a song of tuneful tones.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- daunt v. t.
- To overcome; to conquer. [OF. danter, F. dompter to tame, subdue, fr. L. domitare, v. intens. of domare to tame. See Tame.]
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- loll v. i.
- To act lazily or indolently; to recline; to lean; to throw one's self down; to lie at ease. [Cf. Icel. lolla to act lazily, loll, lolla, laziness, OD. lollen to sit over the fire, and E. lull. Cf. Lill, Lull.]
- laze v. i.
- To be lazy or idle. Middleton. [See Lazy.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
French Leave 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, French Leave, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/french-leave.html, id L01404.
Form and metre
French Leave is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 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 willA · sayB · stillA · dayB
- 2 -A-A souls · restA · ghouls · breastA
- 3 ABAB awakeA · loveB · sakeA · moveB
- 4 -A-A was · byA · grass · lieA
- 5 ABAB deepA · bonesB · sleepA · tonesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No servile little fear shall daunt my will | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| This morning. I have courage steeled to say | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| I will be lazy, conqueringly still, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I will not lose the hours in toil this day. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| The roaring world without, careless of souls, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| Shall leave me to my placid dream of rest, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My four walls shield me from its shouting ghouls, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And all its hates have fled my quiet breast. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And I will loll here resting, wide awake, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Dead to the world of work, the world of love, | 10 | ·········· |
| I laze contented just for dreaming’s sake | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| With not the slightest urge to think or move. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| How tired unto death, how tired I was! | 10 | ·/····/˘·· |
| Now for a day I put my burdens by, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And like a child amidst the meadow grass | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| Under the southern sun, I languid lie | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And feel the bed about me kindly deep, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| My strength ooze gently from my hollow bones, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My worried brain drift aimlessly to sleep, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Like softening to a song of tuneful tones. | 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.