Confessional

Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906



Search thou my heart;
If there be guile,
It shall depart
Before thy smile.

Search thou my soul;
Be there deceit,
'T will vanish whole
Before thee, sweet.

Upon my mind
Turn thy pure lens;
Naught shalt thou find
Thou canst not cleanse.

If I should pray,
I scarcely know
In just what way
My prayers would go.

So strong in me
I feel love's leaven,
I 'd bow to thee
As soon as Heaven!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

23 sec read
138

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ
Closest metre Iambic dimeter
Characters 368
Words 77
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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…

All Paul Laurence Dunbar poems | Paul Laurence Dunbar Books

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