The Hollow Woak
The woaken tree, so hollow now,To souls ov other times wer sound,An' reach'd on ev'ry zide a boughAbove their heads, a-gather'd round,But zome light veetThat here did meetIn friendship sweet, vor rest or jay,Shall be a-miss'd another May.
My childern here, in playvul prideDid zit 'ithin his wooden walls,A-menten steaetely vo'k insideO' castle towers an' lofty halls.But now the vloorAn' mossy doorThat woonce they wore would be too smallTo teaeke em in, so big an' tall.
Theaese year do show, wi' snow-white cloud,An' deaesies in a sprinkled bed,An' green-bough birds a-whislen loud,The looks o' zummer days a-vled;An' grass do grow,An' men do mow,An' all do show the wold times' feaeceWi' new things in the wold things' pleaece.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- 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
The Hollow Woak 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, The Hollow Woak, in Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (1844–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barnes-dorset/the-hollow-woak.html, id L02276.
Form and metre
The Hollow Woak is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCDD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 38% 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 ABABCCDD nowA · soundB · boughA · roundB · veetC · meetC · jayD · mayD
- 2 ABABCCDD prideA · wallsB · insideA · hallsB · vloorC · doorC · smallD · tallD
- 3 A-A-BBCC cloudA · bed · loudA · vled · growB · mowB · feaeceC · pleaeceC
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 woaken tree, so hollow now, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To souls ov other times wer sound, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' reach'd on ev'ry zide a bough | 8 | ········ |
| Above their heads, a-gather'd round, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But zome light veet | 4 | ···· |
| That here did meet | 4 | ···· |
| In friendship sweet, vor rest or jay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shall be a-miss'd another May. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| My childern here, in playvul pride | 8 | ········ |
| Did zit 'ithin his wooden walls, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A-menten steaetely vo'k inside | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| O' castle towers an' lofty halls. | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| But now the vloor | 4 | ···· |
| An' mossy door | 4 | ·/˘· |
| That woonce they wore would be too small | 8 | ········ |
| To teaeke em in, so big an' tall. | 8 | ········ |
| Theaese year do show, wi' snow-white cloud, | 8 | ········ |
| An' deaesies in a sprinkled bed, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| An' green-bough birds a-whislen loud, | 8 | ········ |
| The looks o' zummer days a-vled; | 8 | ········ |
| An' grass do grow, | 4 | ···· |
| An' men do mow, | 4 | ···· |
| An' all do show the wold times' feaece | 8 | ········ |
| Wi' new things in the wold things' pleaece. | 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.