Lyric Poem · Love
Encouragement
1WHO dat knockin' at de do'?
2Why, Ike Johnson, — yes, fu' sho!
3Come in, Ike. I's mighty glad
4You come down. I t'ought you's
5mad
6At me 'bout de othah night,
7An' was stayin' 'way fu' spite.
8Say, now, was you mad fu' true
9W'en I kin' o' laughed at you?
10Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f.
11'T ain't no use a-lookin' sad,
12An' a-mekin' out you's mad;
13Ef you's gwine to be so glum,
14Wondah why you evah come.
15I don't lak nobody 'roun'
16Dat jes' shet dey mouf an' frown, —
17Oh, now, man, don't act a dunce!
18Cain't you talk? I tol' you once,
19Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f.
20Wha'd you come hyeah fu' to-night?
21Body'd t'ink yo' haid ain't right.
22I's done all dat I kin do, —
23Dressed perticler, jes' fu' you;
24Reckon I'd 'a' bettah wo'
25My ol' ragged calico.
26Aftah all de pains I's took,
27Cain't you tell me how I look?
28Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f.
29Bless my soul! I 'mos' fu'got
30Tellin' you 'bout Tildy Scott.
31Don't you know, come Thu'sday
32night,
33She gwine ma'y Lucius White?
34Miss Lize say I allus wuh
35Heap sight laklier 'n huh;
36An' she'll git me somep'n new,
37Ef I wants to ma'y too.
38Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Encouragement” by Paul Laurence Dunbar — quilloak.com/poems/encouragement
Quick facts
- Poem
- Encouragement
- Poet
- Paul Laurence Dunbar
- Length
- 56 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Love, Peace
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 56 lines · 6 stanzas of 9–10 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 7-syllable lines.
- Refrains
- “Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f.”“Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f!”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Paul Laurence Dunbar1872–1906
- Source record
- PoetryDBEncouragement by paul-laurence-dunbar, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 49ebdaee5053ab37…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.