Beehive
Within this black hive to-nightThere swarm a million bees;Bees passing in and out the moon,Bees escaping out the moon,Bees returning through the moon,Silver bees intently buzzing,Silver honey dripping from the swarm of beesEarth is a waxen cell of the world comb,And I, a drone,Lying on my back,Lipping honey,Getting drunk with silver honey,Wish that I might fly out past the moonAnd curl forever in some far-off farmyard flower.
Words in this poem
- intently adv.
- In an intent manner; as, the eyes intently fixed.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- farmyard n.
- The yard or inclosure attached to a barn, or the space inclosed by the farm buildings.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Beehive is in the public domain. This text is taken from Cane, Project Gutenberg ebook #60093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jean Toomer, Beehive, in Cane (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/toomer-cane/beehive.html, id L01573.
Form and metre
Beehive is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 -ABBB-A---CCB- night · beesA · moonB · moonB · moonB · buzzing · beesA · comb · drone · back · honeyC · honeyC · moonB · flower
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Within this black hive to-night | 7 | ······· |
| There swarm a million bees; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Bees passing in and out the moon, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Bees escaping out the moon, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Bees returning through the moon, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Silver bees intently buzzing, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Silver honey dripping from the swarm of bees | 11 | /˘/˘/˘····· |
| Earth is a waxen cell of the world comb, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And I, a drone, | 4 | ···· |
| Lying on my back, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Lipping honey, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Getting drunk with silver honey, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Wish that I might fly out past the moon | 9 | ········· |
| And curl forever in some far-off farmyard flower. | 12 | ··˘/˘····/·/ |
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.