The Vrost
Come, run up hwome wi' us to night,Athirt the vield a-vroze so white,Where vrosty sheaedes do lie belowThe winter ricks a-tipp'd wi' snow,An' lively birds, wi' waggen tails,Do hop upon the icy rails,An' rime do whiten all the topsO' bush an' tree in hedge an' copse,In wind's a-cutten keen.
Come, maidens, come: the groun's a-vrozeToo hard to-night to spweil your clothes.You got noo pools to waddle drough,Nor clay a-pullen off your shoe:An' we can trig ye at the zide,To keep ye up if you do slide:Zoo while there's neither wet nor mud,'S the time to run an' warm your blood,In winds a-cutten keen.
Vor young men's hearts an' maiden's eyesDon't vreeze below the cwoldest skies,While they in twice so keen a blastCan wag their brisk lim's twice so vast!Though vier-light, a-flick'ren redDrough vrosty window-peaenes, do spreadVrom wall to wall, vrom he'th to door,Vor us to goo an' zit avore,Vrom winds a-cutten keen.
Words in this poem
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- copse n.
- A wood of small growth; a thicket of brushwood. See Coppice. [Contr. from coppice.]
- trig v. t.
- To fill; to stuff; to cram. Dr. H. More. [Cf. Dan. trykke to press, Sw. trycka.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Vrost 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 Vrost, 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-vrost.html, id L02095.
Form and metre
The Vrost is 27 lines in 3 stanzas of 9 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 81% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 26% 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 AABBCCDD- nightA · whiteA · belowB · snowB · tailsC · railsC · topsD · copseD · keen
- 2 AA--BBCC- vrozeA · clothesA · drough · shoe · zideB · slideB · mudC · bloodC · keen
- 3 AABBCCDD- eyesA · skiesA · blastB · vastB · redC · spreadC · doorD · avoreD · keen
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come, run up hwome wi' us to night, | 8 | ········ |
| Athirt the vield a-vroze so white, | 8 | ········ |
| Where vrosty sheaedes do lie below | 8 | ········ |
| The winter ricks a-tipp'd wi' snow, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An' lively birds, wi' waggen tails, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Do hop upon the icy rails, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An' rime do whiten all the tops | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O' bush an' tree in hedge an' copse, | 8 | ········ |
| In wind's a-cutten keen. | 6 | ······ |
| Come, maidens, come: the groun's a-vroze | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Too hard to-night to spweil your clothes. | 8 | ········ |
| You got noo pools to waddle drough, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor clay a-pullen off your shoe: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An' we can trig ye at the zide, | 8 | ········ |
| To keep ye up if you do slide: | 8 | ········ |
| Zoo while there's neither wet nor mud, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'S the time to run an' warm your blood, | 9 | ········· |
| In winds a-cutten keen. | 6 | ······ |
| Vor young men's hearts an' maiden's eyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Don't vreeze below the cwoldest skies, | 8 | ········ |
| While they in twice so keen a blast | 8 | ········ |
| Can wag their brisk lim's twice so vast! | 8 | ········ |
| Though vier-light, a-flick'ren red | 7 | ······· |
| Drough vrosty window-peaenes, do spread | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Vrom wall to wall, vrom he'th to door, | 8 | ········ |
| Vor us to goo an' zit avore, | 8 | ········ |
| Vrom winds a-cutten keen. | 6 | ······ |
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