Lullaby
Rock-a-by baby, woolly and brown...(There's a shout at the door an' a big red light...)Lil' coon baby, mammy is down...Han's that hold yuh are steady an' white...
Look piccaninny--such a gran' blazeLickin' up the roof an' the sticks of home--Ever see the like in all yo' days!--Cain't yuh sleep, mah bit-of-honey-comb?
Rock-a-by baby, up to the sky!Look at the cherries driftin' by--Bright red cherries spilled on the groun'--Piping-hot cherries at nuthin' a poun'!
Hush, mah lil' black-bug--doan yuh weep.Daddy's run away an' mammy's in a heapBy her own fron' door in the blazin' heatOutah the shacks like warts on the street...
An' the singin' flame an' the gleeful crowdCirclin' aroun'... won't mammy be proud!With a stone at her hade an' a stone on her heart,An' her mouth like a red plum, broken apart...
See where the blue an' khaki prance,Adding brave colors to the danceAbout the big bonfire white folks make--Such gran' doin's fo' a lil' coon's sake!
Hear all the eagah feet runnin' in town--See all the willin' han's reach outah night--Han's that are wonderful, steady an' white!To toss up a lil' babe, blinkin' an' brown...
Rock-a-by baby--higher an' higher!Mammy is sleepin' an' daddy's run lame...(Soun' may yuh sleep in yo' cradle o' fire!)Rock-a-by baby, hushed in the flame...
Words in this poem
- coon n.
- A raccoon. See Raccoon.
- mammy n.
- A child's name for mamma, mother.
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- gleeful a.
- Merry; gay; joyous.
- hade n.
- The descent of a hill. [Cf. heald inclined, bowed down, G. halde declivity.]
- bonfire n.
- A large fire built in the open air, as an expression of public joy and exultation, or for amusement. [OE. bonefire, banefire, orig. a fire of bones; bone + fire; but cf. also Prov. E. bun a dry stalk.]
- 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.]
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lullaby is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Ghetto, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #4332; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lola Ridge, Lullaby, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/lullaby.html, id L20902.
Form and metre
Lullaby is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAB brownA · lightB · downA · whiteB
- 2 ABAB blazeA · homeB · daysA · combB
- 3 AABB skyA · byA · grounB · pounB
- 4 AABB weepA · heapA · heatB · streetB
- 5 AABB crowdA · proudA · heartB · apartB
- 6 AABB pranceA · danceA · makeB · sakeB
- 7 ABBA townA · nightB · whiteB · brownA
- 8 ABAB higherA · lameB · fireA · flameB
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Rock-a-by baby, woolly and brown... | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| (There's a shout at the door an' a big red light...) | 11 | ··········· |
| Lil' coon baby, mammy is down... | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Han's that hold yuh are steady an' white... | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Look piccaninny--such a gran' blaze | 9 | ········· |
| Lickin' up the roof an' the sticks of home-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Ever see the like in all yo' days! | 9 | /˘······· |
| --Cain't yuh sleep, mah bit-of-honey-comb? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Rock-a-by baby, up to the sky! | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Look at the cherries driftin' by-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Bright red cherries spilled on the groun'-- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Piping-hot cherries at nuthin' a poun'! | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Hush, mah lil' black-bug--doan yuh weep. | 8 | ········ |
| Daddy's run away an' mammy's in a heap | 11 | /˘·˘/······ |
| By her own fron' door in the blazin' heat | 10 | ·········· |
| Outah the shacks like warts on the street... | 9 | ········· |
| An' the singin' flame an' the gleeful crowd | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Circlin' aroun'... won't mammy be proud! | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| With a stone at her hade an' a stone on her heart, | 12 | ············ |
| An' her mouth like a red plum, broken apart... | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| See where the blue an' khaki prance, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Adding brave colors to the dance | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| About the big bonfire white folks make-- | 10 | ····/·˘··· |
| Such gran' doin's fo' a lil' coon's sake! | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Hear all the eagah feet runnin' in town-- | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| See all the willin' han's reach outah night-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Han's that are wonderful, steady an' white! | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘·· |
| To toss up a lil' babe, blinkin' an' brown... | 10 | ·········· |
| Rock-a-by baby--higher an' higher! | 10 | ···/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Mammy is sleepin' an' daddy's run lame... | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| (Soun' may yuh sleep in yo' cradle o' fire!) | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Rock-a-by baby, hushed in the flame... | 9 | ···/˘···· |
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.