Through Agony I
All night, through the eternity of night,Pain was my portion though I could not feel.Deep in my humbled heart you ground your heel,Till I was reft of even my inner light,Till reason from my mind had taken flight,And all my world went whirling in a reel.And all my swarthy strength turned cold like steel,A passive mass beneath your puny might.Last night I gave you triumph over me,So I should be myself as once before,I marveled at your shallow mystery,And haunted hungrily your temple door.I gave you sum and substance to be free,Oh, you shall never triumph any more!
Words in this poem
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- puny a.
- Imperfectly developed in size or vigor; small and feeble; inferior; petty. [F. puîté younger, later born, OF. puisné; puis afterwards (L. post; see Post-) + né born, L. natus. See Natal, and cf. Puisne.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- hungrily adv.
- In a hungry manner; voraciously. [From Hunger.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Through Agony I 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, Through Agony I, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/through-agony-i.html, id L01410.
Form and metre
Through Agony I is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 ABBAABBACD-DCD nightA · feelB · heelB · lightA · flightA · reelB · steelB · mightA · meC · beforeD · mystery · doorD · freeC · moreD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| All night, through the eternity of night, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Pain was my portion though I could not feel. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Deep in my humbled heart you ground your heel, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Till I was reft of even my inner light, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Till reason from my mind had taken flight, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And all my world went whirling in a reel. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all my swarthy strength turned cold like steel, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A passive mass beneath your puny might. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Last night I gave you triumph over me, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So I should be myself as once before, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| I marveled at your shallow mystery, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| And haunted hungrily your temple door. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| I gave you sum and substance to be free, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Oh, you shall never triumph any more! | 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.