Voice: Lewis
Lewis: I think I can give him that. That note was meant for me. SomeNegroes have grown uncomfortable at my being here—
Kabnis: You mean, Mr. Lewis, some colored folks threw it? ChristAmighty!
Lewis: I’m on a sort of contract with myself. (Is about to leave.)Well, glad its nothing serious—
Words in this poem
- uncomfortable a.
- Feeling discomfort; uneasy; as, to be uncomfortable on account of one's position.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Voice: Lewis 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, Voice: Lewis, in Cane (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/toomer-cane/voice-lewis.html, id L01583.
Form and metre
Voice: Lewis is 6 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic octameter.
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. Read against trochaic octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lewis: I think I can give him that. That note was meant for me. Some | 16 | /˘·············· |
| Negroes have grown uncomfortable at my being here— | 11 | /˘··˘/˘··/· |
| Kabnis: You mean, Mr. Lewis, some colored folks threw it? Christ | 15 | ····/˘/˘·/˘···· |
| Amighty! | 3 | ··· |
| Lewis: I’m on a sort of contract with myself. (Is about to leave.) | 17 | /˘·····˘/··/····· |
| Well, glad its nothing serious— | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
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.