Brothers Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDDE FAGDGDDH I J KDLBMNOPQR SDTUVWXYZDDCDA2B2C2D 2E2C CF2ZTDDDG2H2I2DAHJ2K 2DL2B AM2DD N2NDB

See There he stands not brave but with an airA
Of sullen stupor Mark him well Is heB
Not more like brute than man Look in his eyeC
No light is there none save the glint that shinesD
In the now glaring and now shifting orbsD
Of some wild animal caught in the hunter's trapE
-
How came this beast in human shape and formF
Speak man We call you man because you wearA
His shape How are you thus Are you not fromG
That docile child like tender hearted raceD
Which we have known three centuries Not fromG
That more than faithful race which through three warsD
Fed our dear wives and nursed our helpless babesD
Without a single breach of trust Speak outH
-
I am and am notI
-
Then who why are youJ
-
I am a thing not new I am as oldK
As human nature I am that which lurksD
Ready to spring whenever a bar is loosedL
The ancient trait which fights incessantlyB
Against restraint balks at the upward climbM
The weight forever seeking to obeyN
The law of downward pull and I am moreO
The bitter fruit am I of planted seedP
The resultant the inevitable endQ
Of evil forces and the powers of wrongR
-
Lessons in degradation taught and learnedS
The memories of cruel sights and deedsD
The pent up bitterness the unspent hateT
Filtered through fifteen generations haveU
Sprung up and found in me sporadic lifeV
In me the muttered curse of dying menW
On me the stain of conquered women andX
Consuming me the fearful fires of lustY
Lit long ago by other hands than mineZ
In me the down crushed spirit the hurled back prayersD
Of wretches now long dead their dire bequestsD
In me the echo of the stifled cryC
Of children for their bartered mothers' breastsD
I claim no race no race claims me I amA2
No more than human dregs degenerateB2
The monstrous offspring of the monster SinC2
I am just what I am The race that fedD2
Your wives and nursed your babes would do the sameE2
To day but IC
-
Enough the brute must dieC
Quick Chain him to that oak It will resistF2
The fire much longer than this slender pineZ
Now bring the fuel Pile it 'round him WaitT
Pile not so fast or high or we shall loseD
The agony and terror in his faceD
And now the torch Good fuel that the flamesD
Already leap head high Ha hear that shriekG2
And there's another wilder than the firstH2
Fetch water Water Pour a little onI2
The fire lest it should burn too fast Hold soD
Now let it slowly blaze again See thereA
He squirms He groans His eyes bulge wildly outH
Searching around in vain appeal for helpJ2
Another shriek the last Watch how the fleshK2
Grows crisp and hangs till turned to ash it siftsD
Down through the coils of chain that hold erectL2
The ghastly frame against the bark scorched treeB
-
Stop to each man no more than one man's shareA
You take that bone and you this tooth the chainM2
Let us divide its links this skull of courseD
In fair division to the leader comesD
-
And now his fiendish crime has been avengedN2
Let us back to our wives and children SayN
What did he mean by those last muttered wordsD
Brothers in spirit brothers in deed are weB

James Weldon Johnson



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