Conversion
African Guardian of Souls,Drunk with rum,Feasting on a strange cassava,Yielding to new words and a weak palabraOf a white-faced sardonic god—Grins, criesAmen,Shouts hosanna.
Words in this poem
- sardonic a.
- Forced; unnatural; insincere; hence, derisive, mocking, malignant, or bitterly sarcastic; -- applied only to a laugh, smile, or some facial semblance of gayety.
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
- hosanna n.
- A Hebrew exclamation of praise to the Lord, or an invocation of blessings. [Gr. hoshi'ah nnasave now, save, we pray, hoshia' to save (Hiphil, a causative form, of yasha') + na, a particle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Conversion 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, Conversion, in Cane (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/toomer-cane/conversion.html, id L01568.
Form and metre
Conversion is 8 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| African Guardian of Souls, | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘·· |
| Drunk with rum, | 3 | ··· |
| Feasting on a strange cassava, | 8 | /˘···/˘˘ |
| Yielding to new words and a weak palabra | 11 | /˘········· |
| Of a white-faced sardonic god— | 9 | ····˘˘/˘· |
| Grins, cries | 2 | ·· |
| Amen, | 2 | ˘/ |
| Shouts hosanna. | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
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.