Analysis of Lazy

James Weldon Johnson 1871 (Jacksonville) – 1938 (Wiscasset)



Some men enjoy the constant strife
Of days with work and worry rife,
But that is not my dream of life:
I think such men are crazy.
For me, a life with worries few,
A job of nothing much to do,
Just pelf enough to see me through:
I fear that I am lazy.

On winter mornings cold and drear,
When six o'clock alarms I hear,
'Tis then I love to shift my ear,
And hug my downy pillows.
When in the shade it's ninety-three,
No job in town looks good to me,
I'd rather loaf down by the sea,
And watch the foaming billows.

Some people think the world's a school,
Where labor is the only rule;
But I'll not make myself a mule,
And don't you ever doubt it.
I know that work may have its use,
But still I feel that's no excuse
For turning it into abuse;
What do you think about it?

Let others fume and sweat and boil,
And scratch and dig for golden spoil,
And live the life of work and toil,
Their lives to labor giving.
But what is gold when life is sped,
And life is short, as has been said,
And we are such a long time dead,
I'll spend my life in living.


Scheme AAABCCCB DDDEBBBE FFFGHHHG IIIJKKKJ
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 11110101 11111111 1111110 11011101 01110111 11011111 1111110 11010101 11010111 11111111 0111010 10011101 11011111 11011101 0101010 11010101 11010101 1111101 0111011 11111111 11111101 11010101 1111011 11010101 01011101 01011101 1111010 11111111 01111111 01110111 1111010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,021
Words 216
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 197
Words per stanza (avg) 54
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

1:07 min read
136

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson was an American author, educator, lawyer, diplomat, songwriter, and early civil rights activist. Johnson is best remembered for his leadership within the NAACP as well as for his writing, which includes novels, poems, and anthologies. He was also the first African-American professor at New York University. Later in life he was a professor of creative literature and writing at Fisk University. more…

All James Weldon Johnson poems | James Weldon Johnson Books

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