Analysis of Nobody's Lookin' But De Owl An' De Moon
James Weldon Johnson 1871 (Jacksonville) – 1938 (Wiscasset)
(A Negro Serenade)
De river is a-glistenin' in de moonlight,
De owl is set'n high up in de tree;
De little stars am twinklin' wid a sof' light,
De night seems only jes fu' you an' me.
Thoo de trees de breezes am a-sighin',
Breathin' out a sort o' lover's croon,
Der's nobody lookin' or a-spyin',
Nobody but de owl an' de moon.
Nobody's lookin' but de owl an' de moon,
An' de night is balmy; fu' de month is June;
Come den, Honey, won't you? Come to meet me soon,
W'ile nobody's lookin' but de owl an' de moon.
I feel so kinder lonely all de daytime,
It seems I raly don't know what to do;
I jes keep sort a-longin' fu' de night-time,
'Cause den I know dat I can be wid you.
An' de thought jes sets my brain a-swayin',
An' my heart a-beatin' to a tune;
Come, de owl won't tell w'at we's a-sayin',
An' cose you know we kin trus' de moon.
Scheme | X ABABCCCC CCCC DEDECCCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01001 110101011 1111111011 1101111011 1111011111 111110101 11011101 111101 1111111 11111111 11111011111 11101111111 111111111 1111010111 111111111 1111011111 1111111111 111111101 11101101 111111001101 111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 824 |
Words | 169 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 4, 8 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 149 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 54 sec read
- 119 Views
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"Nobody's Lookin' But De Owl An' De Moon" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/20721/nobody%27s-lookin%27-but-de-owl-an%27-de-moon>.
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