Analysis of The Forest Greeting

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



GOOD hunting! — aye, good hunting,
Wherever the forests call;
But ever a heart beats hot with fear,
And what of the birds that fall?
Good hunting! — aye, good hunting,
Wherever the north winds blow;
But what of the stag that calls for his mate?
And what of the wounded doe?
Good hunting! — aye, good hunting,
And ah! we are bold and strong;
But our triumph call through the forest hall
Is a brother's funeral song.
For we are brothers ever,
Panther and bird and bear;
Man and the weakest that fear his face,
Born to the nest or lair.
Yes, brothers, and who shall judge us?
Hunters and game are we;
But who gave the right for me to smite?
Who boasts when he smiteth me?
Good hunting! — aye, good hunting,
And dim is the forest track;
But the sportsman Death comes striding on:
Brothers, the way is black.


Scheme AbcbAdedAfbfghihjkekAlml
Poetic Form
Metre 1101110 0100101 110011111 0110111 1101110 0100111 1110111111 0110101 1101110 0111101 11010110101 10101001 1111010 100101 100101111 110111 11001111 100111 111011111 111111 1101110 0110101 101011101 100111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 796
Words 155
Sentences 15
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 611
Words per stanza (avg) 153
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 22, 2023

46 sec read
146

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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