Analysis of The Seedling
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
AS a quiet little seedling
Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
And this is what it said:
'I am not so very robust,
But I'll do the best I can;'
And the seedling from that moment
Its work of life began.
So it pushed a little leaflet
Up into the light of day,
To examine the surroundings
And show the rest the way.
The leaflet liked the prospect,
So it called its brother, Stem;
Then two other leaflets heard it,
And quickly followed them.
To be sure, the haste and hurry
Made the seedling sweat and pant;
But almost before it knew it
It found itself a plant.
The sunshine poured upon it,
And the clouds they gave a shower;
And the little plant kept growing
Till it found itself a flower.
Little folks, be like the seedling,
Always do the best you can;
Every child must share life's labor
Just as well as every man.
And the sun and showers will help you
Through the lonesome, struggling hours,
Till you raise to light and beauty
Virtue's fair, unfading flowers.
Scheme | ABAB XCXC XDXD XEFE GHFH FIAI ACIC XJGJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 10101010 101111 10111010 011111 11111001 1110111 00101110 111101 11101010 1010111 10100010 010101 0101010 1111101 11101011 010101 11101010 1010101 1101111 110101 011011 00111010 00101110 11101010 10111010 110111 100111110 11111001 001010111 101010010 11111010 11110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 958 |
Words | 187 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 96 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 30, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 104 Views
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"The Seedling" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28948/the-seedling>.
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