Poetry
Sometimes I tremble like a storm-swept flower,And seek to hide my tortured soul from thee.Bowing my head in deep humilityBefore the silent thunder of thy power.Sometimes I flee before thy blazing light,As from the specter of pursuing death;Intimidated lest thy mighty breath,Windways, will sweep me into utter night.For oh, I fear they will be swallowed up--The loves which are to me of vital worth,My passion and my pleasure in the earth--And lost forever in thy magic cup!I fear, I fear my truly human heartWill perish on the altar-stone of art!
About this text
Poetry 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, Poetry, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/poetry.html, id L01382.
Form and metre
Poetry is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 A--ABCCBDEEDFF flowerA · thee · humility · powerA · lightB · deathC · breathC · nightB · upD · worthE · earthE · cupD · heartF · artF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes I tremble like a storm-swept flower, | 11 | ˘/·/˘····/˘ |
| And seek to hide my tortured soul from thee. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bowing my head in deep humility | 10 | /˘····˘/˘˘ |
| Before the silent thunder of thy power. | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Sometimes I flee before thy blazing light, | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| As from the specter of pursuing death; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Intimidated lest thy mighty breath, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘··/˘· |
| Windways, will sweep me into utter night. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For oh, I fear they will be swallowed up-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The loves which are to me of vital worth, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| My passion and my pleasure in the earth-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And lost forever in thy magic cup! | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| I fear, I fear my truly human heart | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Will perish on the altar-stone of art! | 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.