Lizzie
O Lizzie is so mild o' mind,Vor ever kind, an' ever true;A-smilen, while her lids do riseTo show her eyes as bright as dew.An' comely do she look at night,A-dancen in her skirt o' white,An' blushen wi' a rwose o' redBezide her glossy head.
Feaeir is the rwose o' blushen hue,Behung wi' dew, in mornen's hour,Feaeir is the rwose, so sweet belowThe noontide glow, bezide the bow'r.Vull feaeir, an' eet I'd rather zeeThe rwose a-gather'd off the tree,An' bloomen still with blossom red,By Lizzie's glossy head.
Mid peace droughout her e'thly day,Betide her way, to happy rest,An' mid she, all her weanen life,Or maid or wife, be loved and blest.Though I mid never zing anewTo neaeme the maid so feaeir an' true,A-blushen, wi' a rwose o' red,Bezide her glossy head.
Words in this poem
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lizzie 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, Lizzie, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/lizzie.html, id L02319.
Form and metre
Lizzie is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 -A-ABBCC mind · trueA · rise · dewA · nightB · whiteB · redC · headC
- 2 ----AABB hue · hour · below · bow'r · zeeA · treeA · redB · headB
- 3 -A-ABBCC day · restA · life · blestA · anewB · trueB · redC · headC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Lizzie is so mild o' mind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Vor ever kind, an' ever true; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A-smilen, while her lids do rise | 8 | ········ |
| To show her eyes as bright as dew. | 8 | ········ |
| An' comely do she look at night, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A-dancen in her skirt o' white, | 8 | ········ |
| An' blushen wi' a rwose o' red | 8 | ········ |
| Bezide her glossy head. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Feaeir is the rwose o' blushen hue, | 8 | ········ |
| Behung wi' dew, in mornen's hour, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Feaeir is the rwose, so sweet below | 8 | ········ |
| The noontide glow, bezide the bow'r. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Vull feaeir, an' eet I'd rather zee | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The rwose a-gather'd off the tree, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' bloomen still with blossom red, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By Lizzie's glossy head. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Mid peace droughout her e'thly day, | 8 | ········ |
| Betide her way, to happy rest, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| An' mid she, all her weanen life, | 8 | ········ |
| Or maid or wife, be loved and blest. | 8 | ········ |
| Though I mid never zing anew | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To neaeme the maid so feaeir an' true, | 8 | ········ |
| A-blushen, wi' a rwose o' red, | 8 | ········ |
| Bezide her glossy head. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.