Lullaby
The rook's nest do rock on the tree-topWhere vew foes can stand;The martin's is high, an' is deepIn the steep cliff o' zand.But thou, love, a-sleepen where vootstepsMid come to thy bed,Hast father an' mother to watch theeAn' shelter thy head.Lullaby, Lilybrow. Lie asleep;Blest be thy rest.
An' zome birds do keep under ruffenTheir young vrom the storm,An' zome wi' nest-hoodens o' mossAnd o' wool, do lie warm.An' we wull look well to the houserufThat o'er thee mid leaek,An' the blast that mid beaet on thy winderShall not smite thy cheaek.Lullaby, Lilibrow. Lie asleep;Blest be thy rest.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- lullaby n.
- A song to quiet babes or lull them to sleep; that which quiets. [From Lull, v. t.]
- winder v. i.
- To wither; to fail. Holland.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lullaby 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, Lullaby, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/lullaby.html, id L02110.
Form and metre
Lullaby is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% 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 -ABA-C-CB- top · standA · deepB · zandA · vootsteps · bedC · thee · headC · asleepB · rest
- 2 -A-A-B-B-- ruffen · stormA · moss · warmA · houseruf · leaekB · winder · cheaekB · asleep · rest
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The rook's nest do rock on the tree-top | 9 | ········· |
| Where vew foes can stand; | 5 | ····· |
| The martin's is high, an' is deep | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In the steep cliff o' zand. | 6 | ······ |
| But thou, love, a-sleepen where vootsteps | 9 | ········· |
| Mid come to thy bed, | 5 | ····· |
| Hast father an' mother to watch thee | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| An' shelter thy head. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Lullaby, Lilybrow. Lie asleep; | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Blest be thy rest. | 4 | ···· |
| An' zome birds do keep under ruffen | 9 | ········· |
| Their young vrom the storm, | 5 | ····· |
| An' zome wi' nest-hoodens o' moss | 8 | ········ |
| And o' wool, do lie warm. | 6 | ······ |
| An' we wull look well to the houseruf | 11 | ··········· |
| That o'er thee mid leaek, | 5 | ····· |
| An' the blast that mid beaet on thy winder | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Shall not smite thy cheaek. | 5 | ····· |
| Lullaby, Lilibrow. Lie asleep; | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Blest be thy rest. | 4 | ···· |
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.