Bringen Woone Gwain o' Zundays
Ah! John! how I do love to lookAt theaese green hollor, an' the brookAmong the withies that do hideThe stream, a-growen at the zide;An' at the road athirt the wideAn' shallow vword, where we young bwoysDid peaert, when we did goo half-woys,To bring ye gwain o' Zundays.
Vor after church, when we got hwome,In evenen you did always comeTo spend a happy hour or twoWi' us, or we did goo to you;An' never let the comers gooBack hwome alwone, but always tookA stroll down wi' em to the brookTo bring em gwain o' Zundays.
How we did scote all down the groun',A-pushen woone another down!Or challengen o' zides in jumpsDown over bars, an' vuzz, an' humps;An' peaert at last wi' slaps an' thumps,An' run back up the hill to zeeWho'd get hwome soonest, you or we.That brought ye gwain o' Zundays.
O' leaeter years, John, you've a-stoodMy friend, an' I've a-done you good;But tidden, John, vor all that youBe now, that I do like ye zoo,But what you wer vor years agoo:Zoo if you'd stir my heart-blood now.Tell how we used to play, an' howYou brought us gwain o' Zundays.
About this text
Bringen Woone Gwain o' Zundays 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, Bringen Woone Gwain o' Zundays, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/bringen-woone-gwain-o-zundays.html, id L02046.
Form and metre
Bringen Woone Gwain o' Zundays is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 47% 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 AABBBCC- lookA · brookA · hideB · zideB · wideB · bwoysC · woysC · zundays
- 2 --AAABB- hwome · come · twoA · youA · gooA · tookB · brookB · zundays
- 3 --A-ABB- groun · down · jumpsA · humps · thumpsA · zeeB · weB · zundays
- 4 AABB-CC- stoodA · goodA · youB · zooB · agoo · nowC · howC · zundays
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah! John! how I do love to look | 8 | ········ |
| At theaese green hollor, an' the brook | 8 | ········ |
| Among the withies that do hide | 7 | ······· |
| The stream, a-growen at the zide; | 8 | ········ |
| An' at the road athirt the wide | 8 | ········ |
| An' shallow vword, where we young bwoys | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Did peaert, when we did goo half-woys, | 8 | ········ |
| To bring ye gwain o' Zundays. | 7 | ······· |
| Vor after church, when we got hwome, | 8 | ········ |
| In evenen you did always come | 9 | ······/·· |
| To spend a happy hour or two | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| Wi' us, or we did goo to you; | 8 | ········ |
| An' never let the comers goo | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Back hwome alwone, but always took | 8 | ·····/·· |
| A stroll down wi' em to the brook | 8 | ········ |
| To bring em gwain o' Zundays. | 7 | ······· |
| How we did scote all down the groun', | 8 | ········ |
| A-pushen woone another down! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Or challengen o' zides in jumps | 8 | ········ |
| Down over bars, an' vuzz, an' humps; | 8 | ········ |
| An' peaert at last wi' slaps an' thumps, | 8 | ········ |
| An' run back up the hill to zee | 8 | ········ |
| Who'd get hwome soonest, you or we. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That brought ye gwain o' Zundays. | 7 | ······· |
| O' leaeter years, John, you've a-stood | 8 | ········ |
| My friend, an' I've a-done you good; | 8 | ········ |
| But tidden, John, vor all that you | 8 | ········ |
| Be now, that I do like ye zoo, | 8 | ········ |
| But what you wer vor years agoo: | 8 | ········ |
| Zoo if you'd stir my heart-blood now. | 8 | ········ |
| Tell how we used to play, an' how | 8 | ········ |
| You brought us gwain o' Zundays. | 7 | ······· |
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.