Analysis of If You Should Go

Countee Cullen 1903 (New York) – 1946 (New York City)



Love, leave me like the light,
The gently passing day;
We would not know, but for the night,
When it has slipped away.

So many hopes have fled,
Have left me but the name
Of what they were. When love is dead,
Go thou, beloved, the same.

Go quietly; a dream
When done, should leave no trace
That it has lived, except a gleam
Across the dreamer’s face.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Quatrain 
Metre 111101 010101 11111101 111101 110111 111101 11101111 110101 110001 111111 11110101 010101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 340
Words 68
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 88
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted by halel on July 13, 2020

Modified on March 29, 2023

20 sec read
358

Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance. more…

All Countee Cullen poems | Countee Cullen Books

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