Tormented
I will not reason, wrestle here with you,Though you pursue and worry me about;As well put forth my swarthy arm to stopThe wild wind howling, darkly mad without.
The night is yours for revels; day will light.I will not fight you, bold and tigerish,For I am weak, while you are gaining strength;Peace! cease tormenting me to have your wish.
But when you’re filled and sated with the flesh,I shall go swiftly to the silver stream,To cleanse my body for the spirit’s sake,And sun my limbs, and close my eyes to dream.
Words in this poem
- wrestle v. i.
- To contend, by grappling with, and striving to trip or throw down, an opponent; as, they wrestled skillfully. [OE. wrestlen, wrastlen, AS. wr, freq. of wr to wrest; akin to OD. wrastelen to wrestle. See Wrest, v. t.]
- tigerish a.
- Like a tiger; tigrish.
- 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
Tormented 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, Tormented, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/tormented.html, id L01400.
Form and metre
Tormented is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. 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. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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-A you · aboutA · stop · withoutA
- 2 -A-A light · tigerishA · strength · wishA
- 3 -A-A flesh · streamA · sake · dreamA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I will not reason, wrestle here with you, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Though you pursue and worry me about; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| As well put forth my swarthy arm to stop | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The wild wind howling, darkly mad without. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The night is yours for revels; day will light. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I will not fight you, bold and tigerish, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| For I am weak, while you are gaining strength; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Peace! cease tormenting me to have your wish. | 10 | ··/·˘····· |
| But when you’re filled and sated with the flesh, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I shall go swiftly to the silver stream, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To cleanse my body for the spirit’s sake, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And sun my limbs, and close my eyes to dream. | 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.