My Old Kentucky Home
The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home;’Tis summer, the darkeys are gay;The corn-top’s ripe, and the meadow’s in the bloom,While the birds make music all the day.The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,All merry, all happy and bright;By-’n’-by hard times comes a-knocking at the door:--Then my old Kentucky home, good-night!
Weep no more, my lady,O, weep no more to-day!We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,For the old Kentucky home, far away.
They hunt no more for the ’possum and the coon,On the meadow, the hill, and the shore;They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,On the bench by the old cabin door.The day goes by like a shadow o’er the heart,With sorrow, where all was delight;The time has come when the darkeys have to part:--Then my old Kentucky home, good-night!
The head must bow, and the back will have to bend,Wherever the darkey may go;A few more days, and the trouble all will end,In the field where the sugar-canes grow.A few more days for to tote the weary load,--No matter, ’twill never be light;A few more days till we totter on the road:--Then my old Kentucky home, good-night!
Weep no more, my lady,O, weep no more to-day!We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,For the old Kentucky home, far away.
Words in this poem
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- coon n.
- A raccoon. See Raccoon.
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- tote v. t.
- To carry or bear; as, to tote a child over a stream; -- a colloquial word of the Southern States, and used esp. by negroes. [Said to be of African origin.]
- twill v. i.
- To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs on the surface. [Scotch tweel; probably from LG. twillen to make double, from twi- two; akin to AS. twi-, E. twi- in twilight. See Twice, and cf. Tweed, Tweel.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Old Kentucky Home is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, My Old Kentucky Home, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/my-old-kentucky-home.html, id L25241.
Form and metre
My Old Kentucky Home is 32 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 ABABCDCD homeA · gayB · bloomA · dayB · floorC · brightD · doorC · nightD
- 2 -A-A lady · dayA · home · awayA
- 3 ABABCDCD coonA · shoreB · moonA · doorB · heartC · delightD · partC · nightD
- 4 ABABCDCD bendA · goB · endA · growB · loadC · lightD · roadC · nightD
- 5 -A-A lady · dayA · home · awayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home; | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| ’Tis summer, the darkeys are gay; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The corn-top’s ripe, and the meadow’s in the bloom, | 11 | ······/···· |
| While the birds make music all the day. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| The young folks roll on the little cabin floor, | 11 | ······/˘/˘· |
| All merry, all happy and bright; | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| By-’n’-by hard times comes a-knocking at the door:-- | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Then my old Kentucky home, good-night! | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Weep no more, my lady, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| O, weep no more to-day! | 6 | ······ |
| We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home, | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| For the old Kentucky home, far away. | 10 | ···˘/˘··˘/ |
| They hunt no more for the ’possum and the coon, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| On the meadow, the hill, and the shore; | 9 | ··/······ |
| They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| On the bench by the old cabin door. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The day goes by like a shadow o’er the heart, | 11 | ······/···· |
| With sorrow, where all was delight; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The time has come when the darkeys have to part:-- | 11 | ··········· |
| Then my old Kentucky home, good-night! | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| The head must bow, and the back will have to bend, | 11 | ··········· |
| Wherever the darkey may go; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| A few more days, and the trouble all will end, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| In the field where the sugar-canes grow. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| A few more days for to tote the weary load,-- | 11 | ········/˘· |
| No matter, ’twill never be light; | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| A few more days till we totter on the road:-- | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Then my old Kentucky home, good-night! | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Weep no more, my lady, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| O, weep no more to-day! | 6 | ······ |
| We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home, | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| For the old Kentucky home, far away. | 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.