A Choice by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Analysis
"A Choice" is a poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar. This poem is about Dunbar's wishes of reading poetry that makes him feel better or become a better person and not reading sermons specifically about heeding the wrongs of life. A "dew drop in a honey cup" means something sweet and perhaps romantic. "[S]pirit-wine of a singing line" means something good for the soul.
This poem consists of only one stanza made up of eight lines. However, the indentions allow for a rhythm break (and thus change in poem direction) that is similar to stanza breaks. The poem is rhymed ABABCCDD.
Poem
A Choice They please me not - these solemn songs That hint of sermons covered up. 'Tis true the world should heed its wrongs, But in a poem let me sup, Not simples brewed to cure or ease Humanity's confessed disease, But the spirit-wine of a singing line, Or a dew drop in a honey cup
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