Analysis of "Howdy, Honey, Howdy!"
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
Do' a-stan'in' on a jar, fiah a-shinin' thoo,
Ol' folks drowsin' 'roun' de place, wide awake is Lou,
W'en I tap, she answeh, an' I see huh 'mence to grin,
"Howdy, honey, howdy, won't you step right in?"
Den I step erpon de log layin' at de do',
Bless de Lawd, huh mammy an' huh pap's done 'menced to sno',
Now's de time, ef evah, ef I's gwine to try an' win,
"Howdy, honey, howdy, won't you step right in?"
No use playin' on de aidge, trimblin' on de brink,
Wen a body love a gal, tell huh whut he t'ink;
W'en huh hea't is open fu' de love you gwine to gin,
Pull yo'se'f togethah, suh, an' step right in.
Sweetes' imbitation dat a body evah hyeahed,
Sweetah den de music of a lovesick mockin'-bird,
Comin' f'om de gal you loves bettah den yo' kin,
"Howdy, honey, howdy, won't you step right in?"
At de gate o' heaven w'en de storm o' life is pas',
'Spec' I 'll be a-stan'in', 'twell de Mastah say at las',
"Hyeah he stan' all weary, but he winned his fight wid sin.
Howdy, honey, howdy, won't you step right in?"
Scheme | xabB abbB ccbb ddbB xxbB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (40%) |
Metre | 10101011011 11111110111 100111111111111 10101011110 1111111111 111111111111 111111111111 10101011110 1111111111 1010101111111 1001111101111111 1111111110 11101011 1111010111 1111111111 10101011110 1111101001111111 1111010111111 1111101111111 10101011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,005 |
Words | 205 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 142 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 24 Views
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""Howdy, Honey, Howdy!"" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/56386/%22howdy%2C-honey%2C-howdy%21%22>.
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