Old Folks at Home
Way down upon de Swanee Ribber,Far, far away,Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber,Dere’s wha de old folks stay.All up and down de whole creationSadly I roam,Still longing for de old plantation,And for de old folks at home.
All de world am sad and dreary,Eberywhere I roam;Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,Far from de old folks at home!
All round de little farm I wanderedWhen I was young,Den many happy days I squandered,Many de songs I sung.When I was playing wid my brudderHappy was I;Oh, take me to my kind old mudder!Dere let me live and die.
One little hut among de bushes,One dat I love,Still sadly to my memory rushes,No matter where I rove.When will I see de bees a-hummingAll round de comb?When will I hear de banjo tumming,Down in my good old home?
All de world am sad and dreary,Eberywhere I roam;Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,Far from de old folks at home!
Words in this poem
- dere v. t.
- To hurt; to harm; to injure. [AS. derian to hurt.]
- 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.]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- banjo n.
- A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old Folks at 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, Old Folks at Home, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/old-folks-at-home.html, id L25242.
Form and metre
Old Folks at Home is 32 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ribberA · awayB · ebberA · stayB · creationC · roamD · plantationC · homeD
- 2 ABAB drearyA · roamB · wearyA · homeB
- 3 ABABCDCD wanderedA · youngB · squanderedA · sungB · brudderC · iD · mudderC · dieD
- 4 ABABCDCD bushesA · loveB · rushesA · roveB · hummingC · combD · tummingC · homeD
- 5 ABAB drearyA · roamB · wearyA · homeB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Way down upon de Swanee Ribber, | 9 | ·····//·· |
| Far, far away, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Dere’s wha de old folks stay. | 6 | ······ |
| All up and down de whole creation | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Sadly I roam, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Still longing for de old plantation, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And for de old folks at home. | 7 | ······· |
| All de world am sad and dreary, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Eberywhere I roam; | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Far from de old folks at home! | 7 | ······· |
| All round de little farm I wandered | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| When I was young, | 4 | ···· |
| Den many happy days I squandered, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Many de songs I sung. | 6 | /˘···· |
| When I was playing wid my brudder | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Happy was I; | 4 | /˘·· |
| Oh, take me to my kind old mudder! | 9 | ········· |
| Dere let me live and die. | 6 | ······ |
| One little hut among de bushes, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| One dat I love, | 4 | ···· |
| Still sadly to my memory rushes, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| No matter where I rove. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When will I see de bees a-humming | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| All round de comb? | 4 | ···· |
| When will I hear de banjo tumming, | 9 | ·····/··· |
| Down in my good old home? | 6 | ······ |
| All de world am sad and dreary, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Eberywhere I roam; | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Far from de old folks at home! | 7 | ······· |
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.