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Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Searching... Author: JOHNSON, JAMES WELDON Matches Found: 88 Johnson, James Weldon Poet's Biography 88 poems available by this author A BANJO SONG Poem Text First Line: W'en de banjos wuz a-ringin' Last Line: We'll dance tel de day done break. Subject(s): Banjos; Musical Instruments; Singing & Singers; Songs A MID-DAY DREAMER Poem Text First Line: I love to sit alone, and dream Last Line: Adown the stream. Subject(s): Dreams; Nightmares A PLANTATION BACCHANAL Poem Text First Line: W'en ole mister sun gits tiah'd a-hangin' Last Line: Twill take care of itself. Subject(s): Plantation Life A POET TO HIS BABY SON Poem Text First Line: Tiny bit of humanity Last Line: Not to be a poet Subject(s): Babies; Poetry & Poets; Infants AN EXPLANATION Poem Text First Line: Look heah! 'splain to me de reason Last Line: Oh! ...!— Subject(s): Farm Life; Fields; Towns; Agriculture; Farmers; Pastures; Meadows; Leas AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS WAR Poem Text First Line: Around the council-board of hell, with satan at / their head Last Line: And hell rang with the acclamation of the fiends. Subject(s): Devil; Evil; Hell; Monsters; War; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub ANSWER TO PRAYER Poem Text First Line: Der ain't no use in sayin' de lawd won't answer / prah Last Line: Night. Subject(s): Christmas; Jesus Christ; Prayer; Religion; Worship; Nativity, The; Theology ART VS. TRADE Poem Text First Line: Trade, trade versus art Last Line: He crushes those who cry for daily bread Subject(s): Art & Artists; Money; Social Commentary BEAUTY THAT IS NEVER OLD Poem Text First Line: When buffeted and beaten by life's storms Last Line: The only beauty that is never old. Subject(s): Beauty; Hearts; Love BEFORE A PAINTING Poem Text First Line: I knew not who had wrought with skill so fine Last Line: The windows in some old cathedral dim. Subject(s): Art & Artists; Paintings & Painters BRER RABBIT, YOU'S DE CUTES' OF 'EM ALL Poem Text First Line: Once der was a meetin' in de wilderness Last Line: Brer rabbit, you's de cutes' of 'em all. Subject(s): Animals BROTHERS Poem Text First Line: See! There he stands; not brave, but with an air Last Line: "brothers in spirit, brothers in deed are we?" Subject(s): Lynching; Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry DAT GAL O' MINE Poem Text First Line: Skin as black an' jes as sof' as a velvet dress Last Line: O' mine. Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Love; Religion; Sabbath; Theology; Sunday DE LITTLE PICKANINNY'S GONE TO SLEEP Poem Text First Line: Cuddle down, ma honey, in yo' bed Last Line: Let de little pickaninny res'. Subject(s): Babies; Rest; Sleep; Infants DEEP IN THE QUIET WOOD Poem Text First Line: Are you bowed down in heart? Last Line: And holy harmonies. Subject(s): Death; Peace; Silence; Dead, The DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 1. SUNRISE IN THE TROPICS Poem Text First Line: Sol, sol, mighty lord of the tropic zone Last Line: Once more behold! The sun! Subject(s): Caribbean Sea; Nature DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 2. LOS CIGARILLOS Poem Text First Line: This is the land of the dark-eyed gente Last Line: Smoke — smoke — smoke. Subject(s): Caribbean Sea; Health; Pleasure; Smoking; Tobacco; Pipes; Cigars; Cigarettes DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 3. TEESTAY Poem Text First Line: Of tropic sensations, the worst Last Line: Teestay, teestay. Subject(s): Caribbean Sea; Drinks & Drinking; Pleasure; Wine DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 4. THE LOTTERY GIRL Poem Text First Line: Lottery, lottery, / take a chance at the lottery? Last Line: From your eyes. Subject(s): Hearts; Likes & Dislikes; Love DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 5. THE DANCING GIRL Poem Text First Line: Do you know what it is to dance? Last Line: As here by the carib they're known. Subject(s): Caribbean Sea; Dancing & Dancers DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 6. SUNSET IN THE TROPICS Poem Text First Line: A silver flash from the sinking sun Last Line: Queen night, on velvet slippered feet, comes softly down. Subject(s): Caribbean Sea; Evening; Night; Sunset; Twilight; Bedtime FATHER, FATHER ABRAHAM Poem Text FATHER, FATHER ABRAHAM FIFTY YEARS (1863-1913) Poem Text First Line: O brothers mine, today we stand Last Line: God cannot let it come to naught. Subject(s): Abolitionists; African Americans; African Americans - History; Attucks, Crispus (1723-1770); Boston Massacre; Brown, John (1800-1859); Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Freedom; Garrison, William Lloyd (1805-1879); Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865); Lovej FRAGMENT Poem Text First Line: The hand of fate cannot be stayed Last Line: God is not love, no, god is law. Subject(s): African Americans; Injustice; Slavery; Negroes; American Blacks; Serfs FROM THE GERMAN OF UHLAND Poem Text First Line: Three students once tarried over the rhine Last Line: And will love thee, yes, forever and aye! Subject(s): Death; Love; Dead, The FROM THE SPANISH Poem Text First Line: Twenty years go by on noiseless feet Last Line: "he mutters, ""my god! And that is she!" Subject(s): Aging; Transience; Impermanence GHOSTS OF THE OLD YEAR Poem Text First Line: The snow has ceased its fluttering flight Last Line: "failure!"" at last." Subject(s): Holidays; New Year; Resolutions GIRL OF FIFTEEN Poem Text GIRL OF FIFTEEN GO DOWN DEATH; A FUNERAL SERMON Poem Text First Line: Weep not, weep not Last Line: She's resting in the bosom of jesus. Subject(s): Death; Religion; Dead, The; Theology GOD'S TROMBONES HER EYES TWIN POOLS Poem Text First Line: Her eyes, twin pools of mystic light Last Line: A man might plunge, and lose his soul. Subject(s): Death; Grief; Man-woman Relationships; Relationships; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Male-female Relations I HEAR THE STARS STILL SINGING Poem Text I HEAR THE STARS STILL SINGING IF HOMELY VIRTUES DRAW FROM ME A TUNE Poem Text IF HOMELY VIRTUES DRAW FROM ME A TUNE JUDGEMENT DAY First Line: In that great day Last Line: In that great day when god's a-going to rain down fire? JUDGMENT DAY First Line: In that great day JULY IN GEORGY Poem Text First Line: I'm back down in ole georgy w'ere de sun is / shinin' hot Last Line: Shade. Subject(s): Georgia (state); Nature; Southern States; South (u.s.) LAZY Poem Text First Line: Some men enjoy the constant strife Last Line: I'll spend my life in living. Subject(s): Idleness; Labor & Laborers; Laziness; Sloth; Indolence; Work; Workers LET MY PEOPLE GO First Line: And god called moses from the burning bush LIFE Poem Text First Line: Out of the infinite sea of eternity Last Line: Through one short hour of fretfulness. Subject(s): Birth; Light; Waking; Child Birth; Midwifery LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING Poem Text LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING LISTEN, LORD: A PRAYER Poem Text First Line: O lord, we come this morning Last Line: To wait for that great gittin’-up morning—amen Subject(s): God; Prayer MA LADY'S LIPS AM LIKE DE HONEY (NEGRO LOVE SONG) Poem Text First Line: Breeze a-sighin' and a-blowin' Last Line: Nuff to make me understan'. Subject(s): Hearts; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Male-female Relations MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT Poem Text First Line: When morning shows her first faint flush Last Line: And dark — so dark becomes the night. Subject(s): Day; Life; Love MOTHER NIGHT Poem Text First Line: Eternities before the first-born day Last Line: Into the quiet bosom of the night. Subject(s): Death; Keller, Helen (1880-1968); Rest; Dead, The MY CITY Poem Text First Line: When I come down to sleep death's endless night Subject(s): New York City; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple MY CITY First Line: When I come down to sleep death's endless night Last Line: To be dead, and never again behold my city Subject(s): New York City NOBODY'S LOOKIN' BUT DE OWL AND DE MOON (A NEGRO SERENADE) Poem Text First Line: De river is a-glistenin' in de moonlight Last Line: An' cose you know we kin trus' de moon. Subject(s): Absence; Hearts; Love; Solitude; Separation; Isolation; Loneliness O BLACK AND UNKNOWN BARDS Poem Text First Line: O black and unknown bards of long ago Last Line: You sang a race from wood and stone to christ. Subject(s): African Americans - Song & Music; Bards; Jesus Christ; Slavery; Serfs O SOUTHLAND! Poem Text First Line: O southland! O southland! Last Line: The faint one at his side. Subject(s): African Americans; Emancipation Movement & Proclamation; Freedom; Southern States; Negroes; American Blacks; Antislavery Movement - United States; Liberty; South (u.s.) OMAR Poem Text First Line: Old omar, jolly sceptic, it may be Last Line: Must own you have almost persuaded me. Subject(s): Life POSSUM SONG (A WARNING) Poem Text First Line: Simmons ripenin' in de fall Last Line: Run, brudder 'possum, run! Subject(s): Escapes; Hunting; Fugitives; Hunters PRAYER AT SUNRISE Poem Text First Line: O mighty, powerful, dark-dispelling sun Last Line: Great father of the sun, I ask this much. Subject(s): Religion; Theology PRODIGAL SON First Line: Young man - %young man Last Line: And say in your heart: %I will arise and go to my father Subject(s): Jesus Christ - Life And Ministry SENCE YOU WENT AWAY Poem Text First Line: Seems lak to me de stars don't shine so bright Last Line: Sence you went away. Subject(s): Absence; Separation; Isolation SLEEP Poem Text First Line: O sleep, thou kindest minister to man Last Line: Since death be but an endless, dreamless sleep? Subject(s): Dreams; Night; Rest; Nightmares; Bedtime SONNET Poem Text First Line: Enough of love! Let break its every hold! Last Line: I want to kiss a woman made of fire Subject(s): Love - Unrequited; Love SONNET Poem Text First Line: My heart be brave, and do not falter so Last Line: There is a power making for the right Subject(s): Fortitude; Hope; Morality; Love; Optimism; Ethics THE AWAKENING Poem Text First Line: I dreamed that I was a rose Last Line: That I had waited there for you. Subject(s): Absence; Dreams; Hearts; Love; Passion; Waiting; Separation; Isolation; Nightmares THE BLACK MAMMY Poem Text First Line: O whitened head entwined in turban gay Last Line: That it some day might crush thine own black child? Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Babies; Family Life; Infants; Relatives THE COLOR SERGEANT Poem Text First Line: Under a burning tropic sun Last Line: Yet true, in death, to his duty. Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Fights; Prejudice; San Juan Hill, Battle Of (1898); Soldiers; Spanish-american War (1898); Bias; Intolerance THE CREATION (A NEGRO SERMON) Poem Text First Line: And god stepped out on space Last Line: Amen. Amen. Subject(s): African Americans; Religion; Time; Negroes; American Blacks; Theology THE GHOST OF DEACON BROWN Poem Text First Line: In a backwoods town / lived deacon brown Last Line: But the ghost is digging yet. Subject(s): Ghosts; Legends; Story-telling; Supernatural THE GIFT TO SING Poem Text First Line: Sometimes the mist overhangs my path Last Line: And I can sing. Subject(s): Forgetfulness; Love; Singing & Singers; Songs THE GLORY OF THE DAY WAS IN HER FACE Poem Text Last Line: Are one with all the dead, since she is gone Subject(s): Love - Loss Of; Beauty THE GLORY OF THE DAY WAS IN HER FACE Poem Text THE GLORY OF THE DAY WAS IN HER FACE THE PRODIGAL SON Poem Text Recitation First Line: Young man - / young man Subject(s): Jesus Christ - Life & Ministry THE REWARD Poem Text First Line: No greater earthly boon than this I crave Last Line: "he sang a song that reached the hearts of men." Subject(s): Death; Love; Singing & Singers; Dead, The; Songs THE RIVALS Poem Text First Line: Look heah! Is I evah tole you 'bout de curious / way I won Last Line: "folks, heaben knows!" Subject(s): African Americans; Courtship; Hearts; Love; Single People; Negroes; American Blacks; Bachelors; Unmarried People THE SEASONS Poem Text First Line: W'en de leaves begin to fall Last Line: Mek it hard to tell which time o' year am bes'. Subject(s): Seasons; Time; Weather THE SUICIDE Poem Text First Line: For fifty years, / cruel, insatiable old world Last Line: Bang —! Subject(s): Death; Suicide; Dead, The THE TEMPTRESS Poem Text First Line: Old devil, when you come with horns and tail Last Line: Old devil, I must really own, you win. Subject(s): Devil; Fights; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub THE WHITE WITCH Poem Text First Line: O, brothers mine, take care! Take care! Last Line: And in her smile there is a blight. Subject(s): Miscegenation; United States - Race Relations THE WORD OF AN ENGINEER Poem Text First Line: She's built of steel Last Line: That he has in an engineer! Subject(s): Art & Artists; Buildings & Builders; Engineering & Engineers; Steel THE YOUNG WARRIOR Poem Text First Line: Mother, shed no mournful tears Last Line: Unsheathed against the wrong. Subject(s): Fights; Justice; Soldiers TO AMERICA Poem Text First Line: How would you have us, as we are? Last Line: Or tightening chains about your feet? Subject(s): Justice; World War I; First World War TO HORACE BUMSTEAD Poem Text First Line: Have you been sore discouraged in the fight Last Line: You shall not, no, you shall not, fight alone. Subject(s): African Americans - Military; Bumstead, Horace (1841-1919); Human Rights; Justice TUNK (A LECTURE ON MODERN EDUCATION) Poem Text First Line: Look heah, tunk!-now, ain't dis awful! Last Line: Place in school! Subject(s): Education; Writing & Writers VASHTI Poem Text First Line: I sometimes take you in my dreams to a far- / off land I used to know Last Line: Served low at her feet. Subject(s): Absence; Courts & Courtiers; Hearts; Love - Cultural Differences; Memory; Slavery; Separation; Isolation; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Serfs VENUS IN A GARDEN Poem Text First Line: Twas at early morning Last Line: Gathered from the roses red. Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening; Goddesses & Gods; Hearts; Love; Mythology; Roses VOLUPTAS Poem Text First Line: To chase a never-reached mirage Last Line: Its green and watered strand. Subject(s): Death; Dead, The YOU'S SWEET TO YO' MAMMY JES DE SAME Poem Text First Line: Shet yo' eyes, ma little pickaninny, go to sleep Last Line: Makes you lubly in yo' mammy's sight Subject(s): Sleep YOU'S SWEET TO YO' MAMMY JES' DE SAME Poem Text First Line: Shet yo' eyes, ma little pickaninny, go to sleep Last Line: Makes you lubly in yo' mammy's sight. |
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