Analysis of Spring Fever

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



GRASS commence a-comin'
Thoo de thawin' groun',
Evah bird dat whistles
Keepin' noise erroun';
Cain't sleep in de mo'nin',
Case befo' it's light
Bluebird an' de robin
Done begun to fight.
Bluebird sass de robin,
Robin sass him back,
Den de bluebird scol' him
'Twell his face is black.
Would n' min' de quoilin'
All de mo'nin' long,
'Cept it wakes me early,
Case hit's done in song.
Anybody wo'kin'
Wants to sleep ez late
Ez de folks 'll 'low him,
An' I wish to state
(Co'se dis ain't to scattah,
But 'twix' me an' you),
I could stan' de bedclothes,
Kin' o' latah, too.
'T ain't my natchul feelin',
Dis hyeah mopin' spell.
I stan's early risin'
Mos'ly moughty well;
But de ve'y minute,
I feel Ap'il's heat,
Bless yo' soul, de bedclothes
Nevah seemed so sweet.
Mastah, he's a-scol'in',
Case de han's is slow,
All de hosses balkin'
Jes' cain't mek 'em go.
Don' know whut's de mattah,
Hit's a funny t'ing,
I ess'n hit's de fevah
Dat you gits in spring.


Scheme AABAACACADEDAFGFAHEHCIBIAJAJKLBLAMAMCNON
Poetic Form Etheree  (33%)
Tetractys  (28%)
Metre 10101 1111 11110 111 111011 1111 11110 10111 11110 10111 11111 11111 11111 1111 111110 11101 100011 11111 111111 11111 111111 11111 11111 1111 11111 1111 111010 1111 111110 1111 11111 1111 1101 11111 11110 111111 11111 101011 111111 11101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 920
Words 176
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 40
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 17
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 682
Words per stanza (avg) 174
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

59 sec read
119

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 Lyrics of a Lowly Life one poem in the collection being Ode to Ethiopia more…

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