Be'Mi'Ster
Sweet Be'mi'ster, that bist a-boundBy green an' woody hills all round,Wi' hedges, reachen up betweenA thousan' vields o' zummer green,Where elems' lofty heads do drowTheir sheaedes vor hay-meakers below,An' wild hedge-flow'rs do charm the soulsO' maidens in their evenen strolls.
When I o' Zunday nights wi' JeaeneDo saunter drough a vield or leaene,Where elder-blossoms be a-spreadAbove the eltrot's milk-white head,An' flow'rs o' blackberries do blowUpon the brembles, white as snow,To be outdone avore my zightBy Jeaen's gay frock o' dazzlen white;
Oh! then there's nothen that's 'ithoutThy hills that I do ho about,--Noo bigger pleaece, noo gayer town,Beyond thy sweet bells' dyen soun',As they do ring, or strike the hour,At evenen vrom thy wold red tow'r.No: shelter still my head, an' keepMy bwones when I do vall asleep.
Words in this poem
- bigger a.
- , compar. of Big.
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Be'Mi'Ster is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, Project Gutenberg ebook #21785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Barnes, Be'Mi'Ster, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/be-mi-ster.html, id L02075.
Form and metre
Be'Mi'Ster is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDD boundA · roundA · betweenB · greenB · drowC · belowC · soulsD · strollsD
- 2 AABBCCDD jeaeneA · leaeneA · spreadB · headB · blowC · snowC · zightD · whiteD
- 3 AA----BB ithoutA · aboutA · town · soun · hour · tow'r · keepB · asleepB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Be'mi'ster, that bist a-bound | 8 | ········ |
| By green an' woody hills all round, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Wi' hedges, reachen up between | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A thousan' vields o' zummer green, | 8 | ········ |
| Where elems' lofty heads do drow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their sheaedes vor hay-meakers below, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| An' wild hedge-flow'rs do charm the souls | 8 | ········ |
| O' maidens in their evenen strolls. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| When I o' Zunday nights wi' Jeaene | 8 | ········ |
| Do saunter drough a vield or leaene, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where elder-blossoms be a-spread | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Above the eltrot's milk-white head, | 8 | ········ |
| An' flow'rs o' blackberries do blow | 8 | ···/·˘·· |
| Upon the brembles, white as snow, | 7 | ······· |
| To be outdone avore my zight | 8 | ··//···· |
| By Jeaen's gay frock o' dazzlen white; | 8 | ········ |
| Oh! then there's nothen that's 'ithout | 8 | ········ |
| Thy hills that I do ho about,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Noo bigger pleaece, noo gayer town, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Beyond thy sweet bells' dyen soun', | 7 | ······· |
| As they do ring, or strike the hour, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| At evenen vrom thy wold red tow'r. | 9 | ········· |
| No: shelter still my head, an' keep | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My bwones when I do vall asleep. | 8 | ······˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.